Video: Joey Ortiz Deserves More Love

[Jake Fischer]

After a lackluster start to the season, Joey Ortiz has turned it around with a strong second half. Now, he is down with a hamstring injury, and without a clear replacement we are forced to take a look at just how valuable he‘s been. Has Joey had that bad of a year, or have Brewers fans just been focused on the wrong attributes?

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[Bratwithspecialsauce]

This offense is different than most. All 9 need to be able to advance runners for it to work. 

No one has a problem with Joey in the field, but he wasn't contributing with the bat.  It wasn't a matter of batting average or On Base Percentage. It was all the empty outs. Popups and strikeouts.. it eventually got him benched for a couple days. Murphy let him know what was expected and he's been more productive ever since. The reason for the offensive success is all about situational hitting.

Advancing runners with or without hits. Wise base running, running hard and taking extra bases when the opportunity arises.

To Ortiz credit, he responded to his short benching and became much more of a contributor. We need him back.