It’s undeniable that Joey Ortiz hasn’t had the most favorable opportunities in the major leagues. Early in his career, he found himself blocked when he was ready for the big leagues, during his final stint with the Orioles’ organization. A trade to the Brewers saw him displaced for a year, shifting him to third base to play alongside Willy Adames. For much of the past year-plus, he’s consistently batted near the bottom of the lineup, which often results in fewer plate appearances than leadoff hitters, encountering the starting pitcher less frequently, and often stepping up with fewer runners on base. He’s also contended with several minor injuries. Since last August began, Ortiz has accumulated only 165 plate appearances across all competitions, a stark contrast to teammate Brice Turang’s over 350 during the same period.
Regrettably, it’s become impossible to justify granting him more playing time. In fact, he likely deserves less. Since August 1, 2025, including regular season, playoff, and World Baseball Classic games, Ortiz is batting .200/.255/.227. He managed one home run during spring Cactus League play this year, but that’s his only one since the second game after last year’s All-Star break, at any level. Fundamentally, Ortiz’s hitting is broken.
Hitters often experience slumps where their timing is off, the ball doesn’t carry, or line drives invariably find gloves. This situation is different and far more severe. Ortiz is simply outmatched, in a way no other hitter in the league currently is.
To fully grasp the extent of this issue, the following points are crucial:
- Ortiz employs a relatively flat swing. While his swing path tilt has seen a slight annual increase, from 27° in 2024 to 29° this season, it remains below the league average of 32° to 33°.
- A flatter swing necessitates making contact with the ball further out in front of the body. Steeper swings can still generate solid contact deep in the hitting zone, but a flat swing can only produce a high-probability hit (or any chance of an extra-base hit) if the batter’s intercept point—where the bat and ball meet, or would have met on a whiff—is at least 27 inches ahead of their center of mass. The league’s average intercept point hovers around 31 inches in front of the body, and flatter swings typically perform better in that range or even further out. While some steeper swings can be effective with a contact point in the mid-20s, the lower your tilt, the further forward you must connect with the ball to be productive.
Ortiz has consistently allowed the ball to travel quite deep. Often criticized for being passive at the plate, he aims for selectivity and to track the ball thoroughly before committing to a swing—but this puts him constantly on the verge of being late to the hitting zone. Even when performing well, he exhibits one of the league’s lowest attack angles, indicating he barely completes the motion of slashing his bat down into the hitting zone before encountering the pitch; he isn’t driving upward with the barrel nearly as much as most hitters.
However, since the beginning of the second half last year, this tendency has become so extreme that success as a big-league batter is no longer viable. Ortiz’s average intercept point, relative to his center of mass, has progressively receded each month:
- April 2025: 29.4 in.
- May 2025: 31.2
- June 2025: 28.7
- July 2025: 29.6
- August 2025: 28.8
- September 2025: 26.5
- April 2026: 23.7
The ball is, as the saying goes, too close for comfort for Ortiz. He’s not a powerhouse, but no player can hit the ball with authority—especially to the parts of the field where it yields the best results—when making contact that deep. A visual comparison of his intercept point relative to his stance (and last year’s visual) clearly illustrates the issue:
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He’s attempted to widen his stride as pitches get on him, hoping to align his barrel with the ball earlier in his swing and fight it off. As the data shows, it’s not working. Few hitters in the league have an average intercept point deeper than the front edge of home plate, where Ortiz was even last year. No one else in the league has one 9 inches past the front edge, as Ortiz has recorded this season. The second-deepest intercept point belongs to the Rays’ Chandler Simpson, a slap-hitting speedster. Simpson’s exceptional speed allows him to manage with an intercept point 6.8 inches past the front edge of the plate, but hitting for power is out of the question for him. Currently, it’s also out of the question for Ortiz, despite the Brewers shortstop possessing about three scouting grades more bat speed than the Tampa outfielder.
Simpson provides a natural transition to Ortiz’s obvious alternative at shortstop, which presents (arguably) a dilemma. David Hamilton’s batting line this season isn’t much better than Ortiz’s—just .178/.339/.178—yet the underlying fundamentals of his profile are considerably stronger. He needs to implement some significant adjustments, and he lacks Ortiz’s bat speed, but he can drive the ball somewhat and has demonstrated far superior swing decisions than Ortiz. While his own intercept point is dangerously close to being too deep, he employs a much steeper swing than Ortiz, and if he wishes to create more room to make contact out front, he has a straightforward solution: position himself deeper in the batter’s box.
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Despite the unsightly batting average (and the absence of an extra-base hit from either player), there’s no doubt that Hamilton is currently the superior hitter compared to Ortiz. The actual question is whether the Brewers will ever feel comfortable sacrificing Ortiz’s defensive prowess for the offensive potential Hamilton offers at the plate. That’s a complex question, and the answer might simply be ‘no’.
Pat Murphy and the Brewers’ coaching staff have an unparalleled trust in Ortiz at shortstop. They appreciate every aspect of his play at the position, including the improvements he’s made since joining the club. He is reliable and intelligent, possessing a quick first step and excellent range. He executes all the plays a team expects from a shortstop and rarely makes a glaring error.
Hamilton is more spectacular but less consistent. He boasts better range than Ortiz, and possibly a stronger arm. He’s creative, and his ceiling at the position might be higher. However, there are instances where he over-accelerates in his effort to make a play, leading to bobbles or outright drops of playable grounders. This rushing can also result in errant throws, which are compounding errors, almost always granting a runner an extra base.
In critical game situations, the Brewers absolutely (and rightly) favor Ortiz over Hamilton at short, even though Hamilton is a better athlete capable of making a wider variety of plays. This year, the severity of Ortiz’s hitting struggles has led to Hamilton starting six of the 21 games at shortstop, but for that ratio to reverse—for the left-handed hitting Hamilton to assume the majority of playing time at the position—several factors will need to change. Greater stability from third baseman Luis Rengifo would contribute to this shift, meaning the team would rely less on Hamilton at third base. More consistent offensive production from Hamilton himself would also build momentum for a change.
Most importantly, however, the team needs to witness Hamilton consistently execute routine plays, even in high-pressure moments. If his defensive reliability matches Ortiz’s, he will immediately become the starting shortstop (albeit perhaps briefly, as Cooper Pratt, Jesus Made, and others are on the horizon). For now, though, Ortiz remains an integral part of the team’s daily plans, despite his complete inability to generate any offense. Hamilton needs circumstances to favor him, but he also has the opportunity to create his own advantage by slowing down just slightly in the field.