Evolution of the 2025 Brewers’ Third Base Position: May Update

Back in April, we looked at Milwaukee’s third base position, two weeks into the season. Since then, we have had a Caleb Durbin call-up, an Oliver Dunn demotion and (finally) Vinny Capra designated for assignment. The long national nightmare is over.

It’s nothing against Capra, personally. No one is actively hoping a player isn’t good on their team. I’m glad he got his shot on a major-league club. It took him seven years to get a real shot in the majors, and it just didn’t work. You can’t have someone on a big-league roster who is hitting .074 with an OPS of .251. I didn’t even get to start on the JV baseball team in high school with those numbers—and those were definitely my stats.

We’ve been told by the front office that this team should be competitive this year, and you just can’t have players like that on a competitive team. Is there a glimmer of hope on the horizon? Will a prospect matriculate to the big leagues soon? Is a trade almost guaranteed?

Let’s break down the Crew’s current third-base situation.

Caleb Durbin
Durbin made his major-league debut on April 16. He went 2-4, and scored a run. Durbin now has 22 games under his belt and 69 at-bats. The stats are not spectacular, but trending in the right direction. He's hitting .203, with an OPS of .581, one home run, 12 RBIs and four walks. That he's succumbed to only four strikeouts is impressive, as well.

It’s not all on Durbin, but this kind of encapsulates the current issue with the Brewers. Their offense is boring, and doesn’t have enough power. That strategy is fine, if you are winning more games than you're losing, but the Brewers are now 20-21. They haven’t swept a series yet, and are sometimes losing to bad teams. It’s baseball; everyone will lose to bad teams. Losing to bad teams needs to happen less, though, and they need to win a few more series against possible playoff contenders. They need Durbin to be more of a power hitter, to justify his position. Will he ever be a power hitter? Probably not. He will have to get his OPS up somehow, though.

Don’t expect Durbin to go anywhere. Pat Murphy said after he was called up that he “will be the Brewers’ regular third baseman for the foreseeable future” and even nicknamed him “Happy”. The hope is that he will continue to improve over his first full season in the majors.

Andruw Monasterio
With Capra becoming jetsam, an old face has returned to the Brewers. The 27-year-old Venezuelan had a decent year in 2023 for Milwaukee. He hit .259, with an OPS of .678, three home runs and 27 RBIs over 92 games. He provided infield depth and took over the third-base position for the stretch run, before the team acquired Joey Ortiz prior to the start of 2024.

Last year was a little different. Over 59 games, he hit .208, with a .575 OPS, one home run, 16 RBIs and 40 strikeouts over 125 at-bats. Your platoon infielders shouldn’t be striking out a third of the time. Monasterio had a pretty rough start in Nashville this season, but recovered a bit before being called up again. He was hitting .250 with a .757 OPS, four home runs, 11 RBIs and 16 walks.

Monasterio has entered one game this season and hasn’t had any major league at-bats yet. I assume he will get some looks this week. The hope is that he can at least match Durbin’s current stats, or provide another option if Ortiz continues to struggle. There is a good chance you could see Durbin at second, Brice Turang at shortstop and Monasterio or another infielder at third instead, and soon.

Joey Ortiz
Ortiz is technically Milwaukee’s starting shortstop, but I need to mention him because he’s an option at third base. His defense has been good, minus his four errors. All else equal, you could live with his glovework at short. The big issue right now is his bat.

Ortiz is batting .176, with an OPS of .461. He didn’t have his first home run until this past weekend, and it was a ball that would only have been gone in the emergency replacement park the Rays are calling home this year—usually a minor-league facility. He only has six RBIs and nine walks, against 23 strikeouts.

Again, this shows the current glaring issue for the Brewers. The team is inconsistent, and lacks pop. They are leading the league in steals at 51, which is good—but the rest of the news is not. Milwaukee is 23^rd in batting average, 21^st in home runs, 28^th in slugging percentage, 17^th in on-base percentage and 13^th in runs scored.

It’s good they are in the top half in runs scored, but the rest is very unappealing. Again, if they were winning more games, it’s fine. But a competitive team needs power hitting alongside the singles, bunts and steals. Bottom third in average and home runs isn’t going to get it done. And with players like Ortiz and Durbin contributing to that, there will need to be an upgrade to that unit soon.

Other Internal Options
If the team expects help coming from the farm system, I wouldn’t hold your breath. I’ve seen a lot of people asking for Tyler Black. Well, he is on the injured list right now. He hasn't been defensively passable at first base, let alone third, at any time since the start of 2023. He's also yet to demonstrate that he can hit big-league pitching. I don’t want to write him off yet, but it’s possible he won’t reach the levels that folks once thought he would attain. I would love to be wrong, though.

Brock Wilken is smashing the ball right now in Biloxi, but I assume they would like him to get some Triple-A reps before considering him for the majors. Expect a promotion from him any day now. His stats this year have been great. The first-rounder from 2023 is only a year or two away from competing for that third base spot, and is expected to be a corner infielder of the future. It's good, at least, that he's gotten back to this level, after a beaning last year derailed him for the balance of that campaign.

Another wild card for third base could be the newly acquired Bobby Dalbec. Milwaukee signed him to a minor-league contract over the weekend, and currently has him stashed in Nashville. He was cut by the White Sox on May 6, after spending five seasons with the Boston Red Sox.

Dalbec has mostly played first base over his career (274 games there), but also has some third base experience with 56 games. The only issue is that he’s basically like every other Brewer right now. His career batting average is .222, his career OPS is .712, and he doesn’t hit for power. The Seattle native is technically another option, but wouldn’t be a true upgrade, either. That’s the thing about baseball, though. The right player at the right time for a team can suddenly start hitting.

External Options
I’ll make this short and sweet: There will have to be a trade soon if things don’t improve. Yes, a lot of the issues are the top of the order also underperforming. It’s also a team sport. Even so, you can’t have your 6-9 hitters getting one total hit every night. It’s leading to unnecessary losses and sloppy play.

Milwaukee called up Durbin and their other veteran infielder. They don’t have a lot of options in Nashville. A trade seems inevitable, whether it’s in a few weeks or before the trade deadline. The question is, will they be able to catch lightning in a bottle again, as they did with the Willy Adames trade? Those situations don’t happen too often. This Brewers team needs something to happen, though.