The Milwaukee Brewers‘ lineup had one obvious weak link last season in shortstop Joey Ortiz. While stellar with the glove, he put together a truly awful campaign at the plate, one of the worst you’ll see among MLB everydayers. In 149 games, Ortiz hit seven home runs, drove in 45, and slashed .230/.276/.317. That produced an OPS+ of 66 where the league average is 100.
The dropoff was all the more puzzling given his production as a de facto rookie a year earlier, when Ortiz hit .239/.329/.398 with a 102 OPS+. The Brewers had him playing third base that season before Willy Adames’ departure forced his transition to shortstop in 2025. It’s possible that switching to an unfamiliar, more difficult position affected Ortiz at the plate.
According to FanGraphs projections, however, the Brewers should be in for a much more productive version of their starting shortstop in 2026. Eliminating pitchers’ free square in the nine-hole will only help an offense that already produced the third-most runs last season.
Rebound from Ortiz makes Milwaukee’s projected lineup less gettable in bottom third
FanGraphs has Ortiz returning much closer to his 2024 form. The slick-fielding shortstop is projected for 13 home runs and 65 RBIs alongside a slash line of .249/.313/.382. That’s nothing special, of course, but just doing enough at the plate will be plenty if Ortiz maintains his elite defense. FanGraphs gives him a 95 wRC+, still slightly sub-average but a vast improvement over his 67 wRC+ in 2025.
Based on their full-team projections, the Brewers’ batting order would look much the same as its final form last season.
- Jackson Chourio LF
- Brice Turang 2B
- William Contreras C
- Christian Yelich DH
- Andrew Vaughn 1B
- Caleb Durbin 3B
- Sal Frelick RF
- Garrett Mitchell CF
- Joe Ortiz SS
That’s probably very close to its opening day form, as the Brewers are not expected to make any big swings this offseason. Outfielder Akil Baddoo, likely a minor-league depth piece, and left-hander Angel Zerpa are their only additions thus far. Losing Isaac Collins in the Zerpa trade leaves them with less outfield depth, though that could be somewhat offset by healthy seasons from Mitchell and Blake Perkins.
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