The Milwaukee Brewers have solved one of the major questions of the offseason. After spending the entire winter with Jeferson Quero as the only other catcher on their 40-man roster other than William Contreras, the team agreed to a one-year contract with Gary Sanchez for the 2026 MLB season. Sanchez, who was Contreras’ backup in 2024, will be in the same role again after spending 2025 with the Baltimore Orioles.
But while Milwaukee as figured out who their backup catcher will be, they do not yet know who will be their everyday third baseman. Earlier this week, the Brewers traded Caleb Durbin and the rest of their Major League third base depth to the Boston Red Sox.
This sudden trade left many wondering who would be playing at the hot corner of the infield.
Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy wants to keep Joey Ortiz at shortstop
One of the options that many fans identified right away following the Durbin trade was shifting shortstop Joey Ortiz back over to third base. After all, Ortiz emerged as Milwaukee’s everyday third baseman in 2024 as a rookie, but took over his natural shortstop position in 2025 following the departure of Willy Adames in free agency.
If manager Pat Murphy has his way, though, that is not likely to happen. According to Todd Rosiak, Murphy said, “I just feel when a guy’s your shortstop for the entire year, when he comes back into camp he’s probably your shortstop. But things happen. We also know he can play third, he can play second.”
He also said, “Coming back, Brice is going to get prepared to be our second baseman, Ortiz is prepared to be our shortstop and the third-base situation comes down to a handful of guys right now.”
As one can see, Murphy would prefer to keep Ortiz is the shortstop role that he played all last season. However, Murphy and the team are well-aware that he can play multiple positions on the infield, which gives them options.
David Hamilton, who was acquired from the Red Sox in the Durbin trade, is going to get some looks at third base. So will Jett Williams, who was acquired from the New York Mets in the Freddy Peralta deal.
Whoever emerges as the Opening Day third baseman, though, will be the seventh different Opening Day third baseman in seven seasons.
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