Andruw Monasterio's Heroic Play Tuesday Night Showed How Brewers Play a Different Game

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

It's not supposed to be Andruw Monasterio on whom this season rests. If you made a top-10 list in March of the guys the 2025 Brewers season might come down to, it wouldn't have included Monasterio. If you made a top-25 list of the same kind one month ago, it wouldn't have included Monasterio. Despite being on the 40-man roster the whole time, there were points this season when he wouldn't have made a top-40 list of this type.

In the end, of course, it won't all come down to him. The Brewers' extension of their historic winning streak to 14 games, earlier this month in Cincinnati, did come down to him, and so did Tuesday night's game at Uecker Field, but this season will end in October or November, and surely—certainly—it won't be Monasterio on whom the deciding game hinges. Then again, though, this is baseball. Maybe it will be.

The Brewers are in scramble mode, which is funny, because they're also on cruise control. With one month left in the season, they have a comfortable lead over the Cubs, not only for the NL Central crown but for the best record in the National League. They should easily win the division and earn a bye, waiting for the battered and bruised winner of a Wild Card Series to stumble into Milwaukee and take them on. That's all five weeks from now, though. Right now, they're a team in the midst of a stretch of 19 games in 18 days, a bit worn down from the grind of a second half in which days off have been rare and a bit wrung-out from the relentless pursuit of excellence over the last two-plus months. They stumbled this weekend against San Francisco. They stumbled again Tuesday night.

Milwaukee leapt out to a 6-0 lead, and after an initial rally by the visiting Diamondbacks, they stretched their advantage back to 8-3. Jacob Misiorowski couldn't finish off a strong outing, though, and Pat Murphy's effort to shield his bullpen from some of their recent overwork fell apart. The skipper held fast to his plan to rest his highest-leverage relievers, but as a result, Jared Koenig (pretty overworked, in his own right) coughed up the lead in the eighth. The game went to the ninth tied at 8-8. It felt like a game the better team would lose, simply because the Diamondbacks haven't been working as feverishly over the last few weeks and they seemed to be in fuller color.

Shelby Miller had prevented Arizona from taking the lead when he came on to relieve Koenig in the eighth. In the ninth, though, he allowed a line-drive single to right by Corbin Carroll. At just the wrong moment, the grind showed up again. Sal Frelick, uncharacteristically, misplayed the ball and let Carroll take second. It was a play only the most tired and overcooked version of Frelick could fail to make. He's survived multiple recent scares with his own injury issues, and with Jackson Chourio landing on the injured list last month, he's played more often than ever lately. It wasn't an excusable slip-up, but it was an understandable one. Unfortunately, it put the Diamondbacks right on the verge of taking the lead.

Miller recovered to get a popout, which brought James McCann to the plate. McCann had entered as a pinch-hitter for left-handed first baseman Pavin Smith earlier, to face Koenig, but he stayed in against the right-handed Miller. He's 35 years old and a long-time catcher, but not one of the slowest in the league. His average sprint speed this year is 26.4 feet per second, according to Statcast, which is below the global average but above the baseline for backstops. That'll factor in in a moment.

After missing away with the first pitch, Miller had to challenge McCann. He didn't want to fall further behind; the top mandate of the moment was to avoid a big inning. He threw a fastball in the middle of the strike zone, and McCann hit a sharp ground ball toward the hole between third base and shortstop.

He'd topped it, punching the ball into the ground to his left. It bounced again at the edge of the grass, and once more deep on the apron, seemingly ticketed for left field. Anthony Seigler, at third base, had initially frozen and considered going after the ball, but he decided he couldn't get there and broke to cover the bag. Because of the way the ball bounced, he might have had time to get there after all, but he'd been unable to depend on that based on how well McCann struck it.

Monasterio, the replacement shortstop filling in for Joey Ortiz, never had a reason to hesitate, and he didn't. His angle on the ball was better, for reading it. He broke right away, with one short stride, one longer one, another, and then he stretched into a dive to his right. Obligingly, the ball caught a bit of air with each of its hops and decelerated, and Monasterio's glove neatly speared it backhanded as he sprawled.

That was a great play. If it had ended there, it would have been a creditable little thing. Monasterio's reaction; his flat, ambitious angle to the ball; and his sure-handed snare had saved a run, for the moment. He barely even hit the ground, though, before he was back up off of it. At first, you could see, his glance was toward third. Carroll was running. He'd had the play in front of him, but instead of making the ball go through the infield, he (correctly) judged that once Seigler gave up on making the play, he'd be able to beat the tag on any possible throw to third. If the ball had gotten through, Carroll's good secondary lead and his quick decision would have meant a run. As it was, he still assured himself of advancing into scoring position, and Monasterio would have to pocket the ball, putting runners on the corners and giving Arizona two chances to bring Carroll home.

The magic of this play is what happened next. Monasterio's eyes started out pointed at third, but he immediately knew he had no play there. In his peripheral vision, however, he must have seen that McCann wasn't getting down the line all that well. He's faster than an average catcher, perhaps, at his very best, but that's at full gallop. On this play, he got out of the box just ok, and third gear eluded him. Monasterio either saw and understood or intuited without seeing that he had a play all the way across the diamond, at first.

To make it, though, required a second great physical play, in addition to his fabulous presence of mind. Monasterio's shoulders and hips weren't squared to his target, and his feet weren't really beneath him. He had a chance to make this play, but no time to set his feet and make it the way a shortstop usually makes such a play, deep in the hole. He almost fell toward first, as he forced his body to change direction and launch itself that way. He also threw the ball much, much more overhand than is typical of an infielder. It was a good-not-great, one-hop throw, but it was on line, and all Andrew Vaughn had to do was smoothly stretch to receive the ball. McCann was out, and it wasn't especially close.

I looked through dozens of batted balls that roughly matched this one in terms of direction, exit velocity and launch angle, trying to find a play that unfolded quite the same way. I didn't. When shortstops are able to make a play on a ball roughly like the one McCann hit, it's usually because those balls weren't as far toward third base as the one Monasterio had to flag down. Occasionally, when the left side of the infield has shaded the opposing batter more aggressively than the Brewers were in that situation, you'll see a shortstop who can get their feet planted and make a great play.

Less often, a true athletic freak like Bobby Witt Jr. can use that shaded positioning and his explosive speed and arm strength to make the whole play from his feet.

Mostly, though, when the ball is hit about that hard and about that deep in the hole, teams don't get outs. Mookie Betts couldn't convert the same out Witt could.

With the same runner-on-second situation, the Braves couldn't get an out on the Brewers earlier this month.

The Pirates made a great play just to keep a run from scoring on this one. This is the most similar play I found to the Monasterio one, and contrasting it with his underscores the specialness of getting the batter at first.

I also found that batted balls like these are hard to read (or at least hard to play) even when not hit as deep in the hole. I watched Trea Turner stumble on a ball with these exit velocity and launch angle constraints, hit almost straight at him. I saw errors committed by Taylor Walls and Zack Short on balls just a step or two to their right, as they tried to adjust to the bounce and get their body oriented to make a throw to first base. Another, similar ball ate up Anthony Volpe.

None of these examples even offered the people involved the chance to make such a heads-up play. None of them were opportunities as rich, and none were attempted by players with the same combination of physical limitations and mental skills. The Monasterio play had everything. So much of baseball is about simple reaction, explosion, and skill. Lots of thought and preparation goes into each game, but a lot of the mental heavy lifting happens before first pitch. The Brewers' bread and butter is organizational intelligence, which shows up in their superior scouting and player development and in their emphasis on good swing decisions—but what we call "swing decisions" are really almost reflexive choices. We can so rarely see the conscious thoughts of players unfolding as they're making plays. The game moves too fast for that to happen, 99.9 percent of the time.

This was one of those one-in-a-thousand moments. Fans could see Seigler make the best decision he could based on what he could see of the ball off the bat of McCann; Carroll make his savvy break for third; and Monasterio dash for the ball, glance toward third, then improvise his peg to first instead. It was a play full of intelligent baseball, sparking with the things that make sports worth our time.

That the players involved for Milwaukee—Seigler, the minor-league signee last November; Monasterio, who signed as a minor-league free agent in November 2021; and Vaughn, scooped up practically free in June—all so succinctly express the team's acumen in scouting and development doubles the pleasure. That none of them were supposed to be playing these roles as of even three months ago (Caleb Durbin, Ortiz and Rhys Hoskins are still the players in whom the organization has more invested, at least for the moment), and that the medium-term future of this great team depends so substantially on Monasterio almost unfolds a new dimension of appreciation for it all.

Of course the Diamondbacks didn't score in that frame, and of course Isaac Collins walked them off for another dramatic home win thereafter. That play was yet another in a string of Murphy's Miracles, stretching back to last season. These aren't instances of divine intervention; they're just examples of the Brewers playing a different game than the rest of the league. Their execution is better than the rest of the league's. They make plays other teams can't make, because of the talent they scout and hone, but also because of the way they work on and coordinate those plays. These things happen for them offensively, too, but it always shows up more on defense. Monasterio's great play to thwart the Arizona rally in the ninth inning Tuesday night is just the latest addition to the team's canon—the latest reminder of why this team has won more games than anyone else in the league since they hired Murphy, and of why their brand of baseball is uniquely rewarding to lovers of the game.

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[Michael Trzinski]

A great play, definitely a game-saver. Well, maybe a game-saver...lol.

[Outlander]

Don't really like Monasterio at SS but there are a number of plays by him that stick with me. The one from last night is one but also in that home series against the Dodgers had a great play at 3B where he fielded a ground  ball and immediately went home to get Ohtani. The game against the Nationals when he was pinch running and Jake Bauers hit a ball to the left side but Monasterio was able to still get to third and eventually scored the walk off run and of course that home run in Cincinatti. He is a role player but has had quite a positive impact on this team.

[hoosier]

Great take, thanks for the careful and thoughtful writeup! 

[Bratwithspecialsauce]

I echo Outlanders outlook. Monasterio is pretty solid at 2nd and 3rd, and that certainly was an outstanding play last night at short, even though he's had a few miscues there as well . Oddly enough, his bat has woken up at the right time also. 

But that's this Brewers team. They believe in themselves all the way up and down the roster.  At the center is fundamentals of defense.. It's won them so many games this year.

[Team Canada]

ESPN's current MLB home page article ties into some of the sentiments here (and has some content that has been written about on mlb.com and elsewhere).

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46070566/mlb-2025-milwaukee-brewers-national-league-best-team-100-wins-low-payroll-powerhouse

[rafa]

OK, unlike others here, I've always liked Monasterio as a utility player and am very comfortable with him as backup SS.

Monasterio's main position coming up through the minor leagues was SS and while he's played the other infield positions, he still has easily played more games as a professional than any other position.

As for his hitting, last year he played once in a blue moon and his average, overall performance reflected this.  However, in 2023, when he was the main player at 3B, he hit in the high .260's for almost the whole year before Josh Donaldson was acquired.  Then, Mona's playing time decreased but still finished with a.259 ba and an obp of .330.

If he's given semi regular reps backing up 2b, SS and 3b, he will definitely produce.

[steelydan]

Fantastic write-up of this great play! I was surprised how little it was discussed on post-game show and presser. 

I also loved the walks by Yelich and Vaughn in 9th. The hitting by Contreras and Collins was great, too. Such smart baseball all over the place to pull out that game.

I was listening to Miz after the game. It doesn't seem like he received any technical help or special coaching to help him recently, although I don't think he was clearly asked that question. But I was curious about it. I'd like to know more about how the Brewers are coached-up so well.