Is There A Solution To The Left Side Of The Infield Problem?

[rstuedem945]

Image courtesy of © Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The Brewers' offense had a great start to the season despite being without Jackson Chourio and Andrew Vaughn since Opening Day, hitting .274/.379/.440 as a team, striking out 23.1% of the time, and walking at a rate of 13.9%. Their overall wOBA was at .368, good for third in the league during the stretch between Opening Day and April 6th. However, since then, the Brewers have hit .204/.304/.308, walking and striking out less than before, and their wOBA is .282.

A big difference is in their BABIP: in the first stretch, the Brewers had a .352 BABIP, while this current stretch has them at .242. Regardless, the offense's sputtering wasn’t aided when Christian Yelich became sidelined with a left abductor injury on April 12th against the Nationals. This now leaves three big bats on the injured list, and it would be a good development for one of the weaker positional groups to start hitting in order for the Brewers to start scoring again.

Joey Ortiz, Luis Rengifo, and David Hamilton have held down third base and shortstop so far this year, and it hasn’t been pretty to say the least. Hamilton currently leads the way out of those three in OPS, with Ortiz following and Rengifo ranking last among all Brewers batters so far this year. 

While Hamilton does have the highest OPS out of the three, that isn’t saying much at just .586. His advanced stats don’t show many signs of offensive improvement, as his xBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, and bat speed are all in the 7th percentile or less in MLB. One positive to be found with Hamilton’s approach is that he doesn’t whiff and strikeout, and walks a lot. His walk percentage is currently in the top 6% of all MLB players, and when he gets on, his speed is a factor, as he already has four stolen bases to his name so far. Hamilton’s defense is solid as well, with +1 OAA already this season, but unless significant offensive improvements happen, he probably should remain in a bench role. 

Ortiz is a whole other story. The 27-year-old has a slashline of .204/.250/.204 so far in 2026, striking out 13 times while only walking thrice. These marks are all significantly lower than his 2025 numbers, which saw him finish with a .593 OPS. Ortiz’s xSLG and average exit velocity are both in the 3rd percentile, but his xBA is .041 points higher than his actual number, while his bat speed is above league average. These indicate that there may be some luck involved, and that Ortiz could potentially find more offense at the plate, but it isn’t likely, especially given that he is hitting the ball on the ground 68.4% of the time, a league high, and up 22.9 percent from last year. Like Hamilton, Ortiz possesses speed, and the Brewers love his defense at short, but with how shorthanded the Brewers are on offense right now, time should be ticking for Ortiz to make an adjustment to get back to his offensive numbers in 2023.

A free agent signing from the offseason, Rengifo was brought on to replace Caleb Durbin, who was traded to Boston before the season began. He enters Friday with a .125/.173/.208 slash line, good for the worst OPS on the team and a 9 OPS+. It is safe to say it hasn’t worked out so far, and his advanced stats don’t show too many signs for improvement, as his xSLG, average exit velocity, and bat speed are all below or at the 21st percentile. Rengifo has been solid defensively with +1 OAA and isn’t as fast as the other two guys, so he may be the first to go if changes are made.

The primary issue is that with the struggles on the left side of the dirt, there aren’t a ton of current options as to who could provide offense. Jett Williams was acquired in the Freddy Peralta trade and could factor into the Brewers lineup later in the year, but he is currently struggling in Nashville, slashing .206/.342/.238 with one extra-base hit.

A similar story can be told about Brock Wilken (.113/.254/.208), and recently extended Cooper Pratt (.186/.314/.209), and neither is likely ready to contribute for Milwaukee in the next few weeks. Other prospects like Jesus Made and Luis Pena are further down in the farm system, making it even more unrealistic for them to come up soon.

As for the remaining internal options, there aren’t many, but Eddys Leonard could be an option if there isn’t an improvement. Leonard was signed to a minor league deal by the Brewers back in November, and while he hasn’t appeared in a major league game yet in his career, he has 40 career home runs at Triple-A and has started a total of 112 games at shortstop and third base at the Triple-A level as well. Leonard is currently slashing .245/.317/.491, but he would need to be added to the 40-man roster if he were to be called up.

As for external options, trade rumors of Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes swirled after the Durbin trade, and he could still be on the market, given Houston's infield depth. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm could also be an intriguing one-year option as he is an unrestricted free agent after this season, although Bohm has had a very poor beginning of 2026 as well. 

Nonetheless, the Brewers will need to find an answer soon. Having barely any offensive production from two infield spots will not end well, the longer it progresses, and given the injuries early in the season, it may not be long before desperation kicks in and changes are made. 

View full article

[NeilMadisen]

And Sal is a shell of himself so far… at least Lara may be an option.

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, NeilMadisen said:

And Sal is a shell of himself so far… at least Lara may be an option.

Welcome to Brewer Fanatic!

[Snoebird]

It looks like it's going to be awhile before one of the Brewers' prospects is ready to take over third base, so let's double down on Brewer-ism -- i.e. versatility -- and take Sal Frelick up on willingness to man the hot corner. I think we all agree that Sal can do anything he puts his mind to, especially on defense. So let's give him a whirl at third and open up right field for the hottest prospect and potential Frelick II -- Luis Lara. Keep Rengifo on the roster as a third base option and replace Blake Perkins with Lara, who played right field for the Sounds last night as a possible teaser of this move. 

[Ben Lepak]

1 hour ago, Snoebird said:

It looks like it's going to be awhile before one of the Brewers' prospects is ready to take over third base, so let's double down on Brewer-ism -- i.e. versatility -- and take Sal Frelick up on willingness to man the hot corner. I think we all agree that Sal can do anything he puts his mind to, especially on defense. So let's give him a whirl at third and open up right field for the hottest prospect and potential Frelick II -- Luis Lara. Keep Rengifo on the roster as a third base option and replace Blake Perkins with Lara, who played right field for the Sounds last night as a possible teaser of this move. 

Frelick has a 57 OPS+ on the season.  How does moving him to third solve anything? That's not much of an upgrade over Hamilton or Rengifo at the moment and those two have actually played pretty good defense.  I can't see this being a change they make in-season with the OF depth (Greg Jones and Luis Matos are making starts regularly) already being tested. Maybe once they get Chourio back I could see this happening, but even then seems like a stretch.

[Snoebird]

59 minutes ago, Ben Lepak said:

Frelick has a 57 OPS+ on the season.  How does moving him to third solve anything? That's not much of an upgrade over Hamilton or Rengifo at the moment and those two have actually played pretty good defense.  I can't see this being a change they make in-season with the OF depth (Greg Jones and Luis Matos are making starts regularly) already being tested. Maybe once they get Chourio back I could see this happening, but even then seems like a stretch.

How many dead spots in the lineup would you prefer? Frelick, Ortiz and Renigfo is one more than the Crew had last year. You eliminate one (Renigfo) by trying Sal at third, all the while hoping that he'll regain his mojo at the plate. And you find a place on the major league roster for one of the very few minor league position players (Lara) who deserves one. Plus, you get Perkins' weak bat off the 26-man roster in favor of more playing time for Lockridge, whose defense has surpassed Perkins'. 

[OneangryBadger]

Sal is not an option in season. If they want him to play 3B that’s something they need to ask in the offseason so he has all winter and ST to work on it. This isn’t beer league softball it’s MLB. He would be asked to move from OF to 3B which he hasn’t played since HS. Very different positions and 3B is a very difficult position to play well. Plus he’s been playing hurt all year 

[Outlander]

Notwithstanding Sal to 3B, he should not be lumped in with the likes of Ortiz, Rengifo and Hamilton, all who were horrible offensively this year and continue to be this year. Frelick has been bad thus far but had a 3 WAR season last year, far too early to make a call on him 

[Jim French Stepstool]

We'd all like to see those three show more offense, but I suspect the time when the team feels compelled to make some kind of move is much further off than most fans think. The flip side to this argument is that Yelich is out, Chourio is out, Vaughn is out, Eddys Leonard can't replace that & they need to lean on their run prevention strategy, which has mostly paid off. They scored 13 runs last Sunday & Tuesday & lost; if the pitching & defense didn't drop the ball those two days they'd be 13-6 right now. Any questions about this to Murphy or Arnold would be responded to by how Rengifo needs to get going, Hamilton puts great pressure on a defense when he makes consistent contact, etc etc. This just doesn't feel to me like a Capra/Dunn situation where they'd be quick to pull the trigger.

And I see no chance of Frelick moving to 3B, nor IMO should he.