Are Milwaukee Brewers Hitting Coaches, Or A Lack Of Confidence, To Blame For Joey Ortiz's Struggles?

Earlier this year, I offered a deep dive into the alterations of Joey Ortiz's swing, namely, looking at the change in the aggressiveness of his leg kick. Ortiz's pre-swing movement has become less pronounced, less decisive, in contrast to his setup during those halcyon days when he cut loose in May and June of 2024. A neck injury created some debilitating results in the dog days of summer, but Ortiz had clearly found a blueprint for how he can achieve success when healthy.

Fast-forward to a new season, and with Ortiz back to full health, his swing has deviated significantly (and, arguably, indefensibly) from that which showed the most success for him. Aside from the pronounced leg kick, Ortiz has made changes in his batting stance that have had large-scale implications in his contact point and quality of contact in 2025.

@Jack Stern mused recently about Ortiz being late in the hitting zone, citing that as the cause of numerous pop-ups to first base. It seems the changes to his stance have fed into that somewhat. His bat speed has been high, allowing him to attempt to pull breaking pitches while still being able to damage and hit fastballs hard to the opposite field, a hallmark of his success in the first half of 2024. 

Coming into 2025, there are some recognizable changes in his setup that Ortiz has worked through. His stance was around 26° open in 2024, even before the neck injury, but has closed off to around 18° in 2025. He's also moved deeper into the batter's box, a move that gives him more time to react to high velocity and adjust to breaking pitches. We've seen a corresponding improvement in his whiff rate and strikeout rate, which have reached quite elite levels in 2025. The problem is, the quality of contact he's producing off the back of that has absolutely cratered:

After a strong spring training, you would think Joey Ortiz was full of confidence, but his reduced bat speed and inability to impact the ball have led to pitchers ruthlessly exploiting him in the zone. In summary, Ortiz has reduced his leg kick, moved back in the box, and closed off his stance, all changes that seem geared towards making better swing decisions and increasing contact. The question is, why was this a priority for Ortiz, given the rates he was achieving in those categories in 2024?

Looking at bat speed spreads so far in 2025, we can see clearly that Ortiz is struggling to access the swing and bat speed that gave him a high ceiling as a prospect:

So with a slower bat and a more closed-off stance, as well as a setup that's seen him move further back in the batter's box, Ortiz has found himself struggling to pull the ball much at all in 2025, taking away one of his sources of damage from 2024. His pull rate has dropped from 38.2% down to 24.0%, and as Jack said, he's consistently catching the ball late. 

Now, perhaps the main issue here is not the stance, but rather the bat speed. A faster bat in the 75-76 mph range would allow Ortiz to potentially catch the ball slightly further out in front and perhaps unlock that pulling power once more. Ortiz has a very flat swing and will therefore likely never be a huge home run hitter; more likely to spray hard line drives. However, it's this exact profile that can ill afford to be so off with his swing plane. It's also completely closing off the inner third of the plate to hard contact and a large zone for his incessant pop-ups. If we compare Ortiz's average exit velocity on the inner third in 2024 (left) vs 2025 (middle), and his 2025 popup rate, this is what we find:

On top of the reduced bat speed, Ortiz is starting the bat later than ever. A clear sign of a lack of confidence will be how much Ortiz is consciously thinking rather than merely reacting instinctively from the moment of release. Consciously thinking will cause indecision and late movements, something we're seeing a lot of from Ortiz in 2025. Let's contrast his bat position at the point a pitch enters the pitch map using Baseball Savant's new visual metrics. In 2025 (below), Ortiz's set-up further back in the box is clear, but his bat path is late, even despite this, barely reaching the strike zone at the moment the pitch comes into view:

Contrast that with 2024, and it's clear the bat is further ahead at this point:

It's not a massive difference, but the effect this has on the quality of contact is monumental when you fast forward to that part of the swing:

2024

2025

In 2024, Ortiz was managing to catch the ball out in front a lot more often, straightening through the point of contact and impacting the ball more consistently as a result. The delayed bat path and lower bat speeds are having a significant impact on his contact point, and the source of these issues is where the question of the Brewers' coaches or just Joey Ortiz comes into question.

If the lower bat speed is a result of the change in his load, or a lack of confidence and comfortability in the changes he's made over the off-season, then Al LaBoeuf and Eric Thiesen should come under some pressure. They've tried to improve his consistency of contact by simplifying the operation, but have actually made things worse for the young shortstop in doing so.

It's also clear that confidence plays a part in this whole ordeal. He's delayed in getting the bat off his shoulder, the bat speed could be down due to issues of conviction in his swing decisions, and it's having a knock-on effect. If he can regain some confidence once more, things could click back into place with regard to the timing of the rest of his swing.

Sadly, Ortiz is completely bereft of such positive thought. His efforts to bunt on Wednesday afternoon encapsulated the state of his mind at this moment, popping up to third base and happy to be a sacrificial lamb with no conviction whatsoever that he could make solid contact. He may need time away from the spotlight to find that confidence again, something the Brewers and their dearth of infield options can ill afford to give, leaving it all a little bit pickled.

The question then remains: Should the Brewers' hitting coordinators suffer some flak for the changes made with Joey Ortiz? Does Ortiz need to be more resilient in the face of adversity? Does he simply need more faith in the changes made by the Brewers coaches to see the full effects of those tweaks? Or how could the Brewers go about improving his clearly destroyed confidence levels? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!