The Milwaukee Brewers used a platoon approach at third base to begin the season. Andruw Monasterio was the Opening day third baseman, Oliver Dunn got a long look before being recently demoted to the minor leagues, and now Joey Ortiz has played himself into the everyday role.
Joey Ortiz has been nearly unstoppable at the plate over the last three weeks.
Over the last three weeks (16 games) Joey Ortiz has gone 17-49 with five home runs and 12 RBI. This computes to a .347 batting average. During this same stretch he has an on-base percentage of .441 and a slugging percentage of .816. Additionally, against the Pirates and Astros he put together a streak where he reached base safely eight plate appearances in a row.
fWAR ranks Joey Ortiz as the fourth best third baseman in the league.
Fangraphs ranks Joey Ortiz as the fourth best third baseman in the league according to fWAR. Across 116 plate appearances and 38 games Ortiz has accumulated a 1.4 fWAR. His season wRC+ is 169, season OPS is .958, and he is crushing right-handed pitching this year to the tune of a 1.074 OPS. Only Shohei Ohtani has a higher OPS against righties with 1.260.
Could the Milwaukee Brewers have an All-Star third baseman on their team in Joey Ortiz?
Currently Joey Ortiz has the highest OPS among third basemen in the National League. His .958 OPS is higher than Alec Bohm (.918), Ryan McMahom (.868), and Max Muncy (.798). With players like Nolan Arenado, Jeimer Candelario, Austin Riley, and Eugenio Suarez off to slow starts it is not out of the question to think that Ortiz could end up on the All-Star roster if he continues to play well.
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