In Wake Of Joey Ortiz Injury, Could Cooper Pratt Have Path to October Baseball?

[Jake McKibbin]

Image courtesy of © Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Joey Ortiz's injury may be a worst-case scenario for the Milwaukee Brewers. The one position where they have a very limited assortment of depth is shortstop. Every other position appears stocked with at least a capable reserve, either on their 26-man roster or with their Triple-A affiliate in Nashville.

Ortiz's bat has been polarizing, at times producing hard line drives to the opposite field and at other times becoming a pop-up machine, but his defense over the last few months has been outstanding. His first step has been more on time and his range has improved to the point where he may be one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball over the past couple of months. The way the Brewers value that infield defense, it's a critical loss, if Ortiz is sidelined for any significant length of time. Right now, that does seem possible.

Andruw Monasterio has filled in for Ortiz this season on occasion and, surprisingly, has looked capable in the six hole—although he doesn't inspire a ton of confidence defensively over a larger sample size. In all honesty, his plate appearances might be better than Ortiz's, especially in terms of his ball/strike recognition, and he should be a capable short-term solution. The team doesn't need to tap an inexperienced, low-ceiling backup like Freddy Zamora (whose bat is unlikely to play at all in the major leagues) or Ethan Murray (a capable utility infielder with great defensive showings this season, but still raw in Triple A).

Here's where Cooper Pratt comes in. If the Brewers want to succeed in October, you can bet that a strong defense will play a big role in that. It's no coincidence that the turnaround in Ortiz's defensive fortunes has coincided with the recent run of form from the Brewers, with plays like this leading the way. Andruw Monasterio, on his best day, isn't capable of this kind of play:

Just to be clear, Pratt should NOT be promoted straight to the big leagues, but he was likely to get a promotion to Triple A soon, anyway. That decision should be sped up if Ortiz is out for the rest of the season. Pratt has a minor-league Gold Glove and, by all accounts, has become one of the best shortstops in the minor leagues. It's plays like these in critical moments that can have big implications in playoff baseball:

The bat also seems to be coming around. Pratt doesn't have big bat speed, but there's more power to be tapped into from his frame. Some of that appears to be bearing fruit of late, with tweaks to his leg kick that are helping him be on time for the 93+ mph fastballs he struggled with earlier in the season. Aram Leighton of Just Baseball highlighted Pratt's struggles against any form of velocity in a pre-season podcast, and the changes below may illustrate why those happened—and why it's less of a concern now.

Back in spring training, Pratt was finding ways to get the good part of the bat on the ball, but the coil in his front hip was making him slightly late getting through the hitting zone.

Contrast that with his more recent power surges, and you can see that, although he still has the leg kick, he doesn't rotate excessively, and is finding himself out in front and pulling a lot of fly balls. The exit velocities haven't been massive, but the balls have gone a long, long way out of the park (similar to some of the changes Matt Shaw has made to unlock himself since the All-Star break). Note that one of these is Pratt turning on and crushing one of those aforementioned 93+ mph fastballs.

Pratt has also made strides in his chase rate this season, seeing considerable improvement in his rolling 120-pitch sample.

Ideally, the Brewers would like to give Pratt more time to see if the changes he's made are more than just a small-sample burst. If Ortiz is out for the season, however, they may not have that luxury, and with tangible changes on top of Pratt's improved swing decisions, they should consider pushing him aggressively to see how these stack up against Triple-A opposition. 

If the power output and improved batted-ball quality continue at the higher level, he may be primed for an opportunity in mid-September. The expanded rosters (and potentially having the division clinched by that point) allow the Brewers some luxury in testing the waters with Pratt. His defensive acumen, combined with a higher ceiling with the bat than the available alternatives at Triple A, would say the Brewers should at least give him a shot of forcing his way into the playoff picture.

At worst, Pratt gets to sample Triple-A pitching slightly earlier than intended and hits a roadblock. The best case is, he takes to it like a duck to water. For a Brewers organization who love depth and options, it seems like a no-brainer. Hopefully, Ortiz's injury is relatively mild and this will be moot, but it's good to think proactively in moments like these.

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What do you think of pushing Cooper Pratt to Triple A in the wake of Joey Ortiz's injury? Do you think his simplified pre-swing mechanics are significant enough to gamble on? Do you see a route to him earning opportunities in September with the big league club? Let us know in the comments below!

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[MattK]

Great thoughts.  Thanks Jake!

[jay87shot]

I would wait, Mone and Turang can fill in for a week or two, if that creates a snowball effect then maybe in a couple weeks I'd entertain the Pratt idea. He has been better the past couple weeks but I don't think that is enough to warrant a move to the show. 

[wibadgers23]

What are the service time implications for calling up Pratt now through the end of the year?

[Jake McKibbin]

24 minutes ago, wibadgers23 said:

What are the service time implications for calling up Pratt now through the end of the year?

He'll still be a rookie next season, and six years of team control remaining after that.

I think the first step is to get him to Triple A and see if Pratt can play his way into the conversation. He'll have to play incredibly well, and if he does, thats when the difficult decision begins 

[Sakatarama]

I'm not as upset about filling in for Ortiz as I am worried that they'll probably bring Oliver Dunn back up

[patrickgpe]

I don't think since it makes sense to rush Pratt's development for minor short term gains. He is 21 and batting .250 in double A. I don't think shaking his confidence by having him hit MLB pitching in a pennant race helps him or the crew. 

[Turning2]

Granted it's a small sampling, but every time I tuned into the Shuckers the past few months and catch a sporadic couple of at bats, (maybe a dozen from a handful of games) he seemed pretty average at the plate. Young guy, perhaps a tad overhyped due to the prospect ranking. I doubt they push him up this early. They have Monasterio to be the band aid. Pratt is nice to have in the system, but I wonder if he might not be trade bait with all the Made / Pena hysteria.

[Austin Tatious]

I’m in the camp that he’s at least 12 months away, and that’s if he continues improving. You’ve got to love him physically and on defense.  He’s also incredibly young.  I think his bat isn’t advanced enough yet.  Lot of meat left on that bone to improve first.  

[Turning2]

It will be interesting to see how things play out for the middle infield if Pratt, Made, Pena all pan out in the next couple of years. 

[sveumrules]

5 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

It will be interesting to see how things play out for the middle infield if Pratt, Made, Pena all pan out in the next couple of years. 

2026 I’d guess Pratt is at AAA with Made/Peña at AA, then 2027 is when things could start getting crowded as Cooper would theoretically be ready for MLB & Jesus/Luis could be too if they follow the Chourio ascension route.

Turang would have three years of Arby remaining in 2027.

Think the two big questions this offseason will boil down to what happens with the Woodruff/Peralta situations and if the Brewers think upgrading one of Durbin/Ortiz in the short term for more of a known quantity is worth dealing from their minor league depth versus rolling with the status quo for another year & giving all involved players another year to develop before making a decision.

[BrewerFan]

On 8/22/2025 at 10:38 AM, jay87shot said:

I would wait, Mone and Turang can fill in for a week or two, if that creates a snowball effect then maybe in a couple weeks I'd entertain the Pratt idea. He has been better the past couple weeks but I don't think that is enough to warrant a move to the show. 

.... the OP is literally advocating moving him to AAA to see how he handles THAT, not to the show right now. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

On 8/22/2025 at 12:01 PM, Jake McKibbin said:

 

I think the first step is to get him to Triple A and see if Pratt can play his way into the conversation. He'll have to play incredibly well, and if he does, thats when the difficult decision begins 

Yeah, if they're even thinking about this then Pratt should be advanced to Nashville now. The question is can he hold up defensively in the face of being rushed up here. It's almost certain he wouldn't hit with any kind of consistency but that would be a secondary issue.

Right now Monasterio is a much better option. It's the lack of depth & bench options that exacerbates things.

[Turning2]

On 8/23/2025 at 11:12 AM, sveumrules said:

2026 I’d guess Pratt is at AAA with Made/Peña at AA, then 2027 is when things could start getting crowded as Cooper would theoretically be ready for MLB & Jesus/Luis could be too if they follow the Chourio ascension route.

Turang would have three years of Arby remaining in 2027.

Think the two big questions this offseason will boil down to what happens with the Woodruff/Peralta situations and if the Brewers think upgrading one of Durbin/Ortiz in the short term for more of a known quantity is worth dealing from their minor league depth versus rolling with the status quo for another year & giving all involved players another year to develop before making a decision.

Is it your opinion that Made and Pena will begin the 2026 season in Biloxi, or get bumped up later in the year?

[sveumrules]

2 minutes ago, Turning2 said:

Is it your opinion that Made and Pena will begin the 2026 season in Biloxi, or get bumped up later in the year?

My initial instinct was yes because they had been promoted together to Carolina and then Wisconsin. Made's performance has been on a whole other level than Pena since getting to Wisco though so I could see Made starting in Biloxi straightaway while Pena repeats Wisco to open the year with a potential midseason promotion to Biloxi if his performance merits it.

Believe the Shuckers have one extra week of play after the T-Rats wrap things up, so could get a little bit of a clue if one or both get bumped up for that last week (& playoffs) similar to Chourio in 2022.

[Turning2]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

My initial instinct was yes because they had been promoted together to Carolina and then Wisconsin. Made's performance has been on a whole other level than Pena since getting to Wisco though so I could see Made starting in Biloxi straightaway while Pena repeats Wisco to open the year with a potential midseason promotion to Biloxi if his performance merits it.

Believe the Shuckers have one extra week of play after the T-Rats wrap things up, so could get a little bit of a clue if one or both get bumped up for that last week (& playoffs) similar to Chourio in 2022.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Think you might be right. Was hoping to catch Made and Pena at Appleton before they got bumped.  Probably going to miss Made at least. Plenty of other interesting prospects there too. But who knows, some of them might get bumped up in the offseason as well.