Forget the Future: Brewers' Shortstop and Third Baseman of This Very Moment Are Rolling

Teams with forever loaded farm systems sometimes fall into the trap of thinking too much about The Shortstop of the Future. In the Brewers' case, fans are dreaming and drooling at the notion of Jesus Made coming to the majors sometime soon and assuming his place at short, where he could easily spend an entire decade for the team (if they can sign him for that long). Generational players are fun. They present-proof the fan experience; they give you something to look forward to and someone to focus on even when times are hard.

Right now, though, times are easy for the Brewers, and they're not looking toward the future. On Monday night, their thunderous win over the Mets included home runs by both Cooper Pratt and Joey Ortiz, the shortstop and third baseman of the right-this-minute. For Pratt, it was the first homer of his career.

"Cooper's very capable, very capable," Pat Murphy said after the game, acknowledging the raw power evident in Pratt's swing and his frame. However, the manager also said what he says about almost every player who's only been in the majors for a month or two: "He's got a lot to learn in the game."

That learning has been happening lately. Pratt collected two other hits and stole a base Monday, and is batting .313/.404/.458 in July. As he's settled into the majors and found more opportunities to put his 'A' swing on the ball, he's tapped into more hard contact, even if it took almost 100 plate appearances to finally clear the fence.

"I didn't go in trying to hit [a homer]," Pratt said after the contest. "I mean, it was in the back of my head, but I was just trying to hit a fastball, and got the slider, and it snuck out."

Indeed, though it will be memorable because of the occasion and the opposing pitcher, ex-Brewer Freddy Peralta ("I don't think I'll ever forget who I hit it off of," Pratt said with a chuckle), this was not a ball he got all of. Peralta left a sweeper on the inner half, and it ran into Pratt's barrel, though he was early enough that it still got off the end of his bat a bit. No matter. In fact, that's one of the things that made the long ball exciting. It was a reminder that Pratt is big enough, strong enough and capable of swinging fast enough not to need to hit the ball perfectly to generate power. 

Later—after Peralta departed—Ortiz hit a homer that snuck out in a different sense. His was a missile, but on a low line, and it stayed up long enough to clear the fence for his fifth home run of the year. That doesn't sound thrilling, but remember, a month ago, Ortiz lost his full-time starting gig, and even his place on the 26-man roster appeared in jeopardy. Pratt was promoted at the tail end of a home stand, and took over at short, moving Ortiz into a platoon with David Hamilton.

It took Ortiz a few days to adjust to what was happening—to absorb it. Starting when the Brewers hit the road just after Pratt's arrival, though, Ortiz is batting .273/.305/.468, even though he ceased to be in a platoon of any kind when Hamilton landed on the injured list. What changed?

"Reality," Murphy said, bluntly. "'Look, they went outside [of me] at shortstop. The kid's gonna come up and play shortstop. Not a lot I can do about it, now.'"

Instead of spiraling downward, Murphy said, Ortiz has embraced the attitude that he can still play in the big leagues a long time, because of how good a defender he is—and a more relaxed mindset has carried over in the batter's box.

"I think a ton of bricks was off his shoulders," the manager said. The team also talked to him right away when the change was made, with Murphy offering him as an exemplar Miguel Rojas of the Dodgers. Rojas was a little-known and little-wanted journeyman early in his career, but his excellent defense and positive contributions in the clubhouse gave him the runway to eventually emerge as an everyday player. If anything, Ortiz has better offensive tools than Rojas, so the comparison is apt, but it also leaves room for the Brewers' Third Baseman of the Present to excel.

Murphy said Hamilton will go to Triple-A Nashville on a rehab assignment Tuesday, and that the team misses what his speed brings to the table. Ortiz isn't even guaranteed to have his spot to himself a week from now. All three incumbents must feel the slowly gathering pressure of Jett Williams, Made, Andrew Fischer, Luis Peña and others, progressing toward the majors and making their cases as possible left-sided infielders of the future. Monday was a reassuring and exhilarating reminder of the power of staying grounded in the present, though.

As Milwaukee tries to make the most of a historic season by Jacob Misiorowski and a core of position players as good as they've had since 2018, it doesn't matter much whether Pratt and Ortiz can hold down their positions for the next five years. For the next five minutes, they're safe, because in the last five weeks, they've been an excellent pairing at a vital spot. If they become the shortstop and third baseman who race toward the mound to celebrate the Brewers' first-ever World Series title, they'll have five decades to dine out on the memory, no matter how long they stay in their places after that moment.