Brewers' Joey Ortiz Breaks Out With His Best Game of 2026

At some point, the Milwaukee Brewers are going to have to make a difficult decision at shortstop. Until then, the job is Joey Ortiz's.

Ortiz is in his third season as a member of the Brewers and has been excellent all season defensively. Ortiz is in the 96th percentile in outs above average right now. Offensively, his advanced metrics are much lower across the board. But one thing that is great about baseball is that, despite what the numbers and analytics say, anything could happen. For example, while Ortiz's offensive metrics are bad, he looked great on Tuesday night. Ortiz went 2-for-3 in the contest and blasted his first homer of the season and also drove in two runs as Milwaukee took down the San Diego Padres, 6-4.

Ortiz got the Brewers on the board with his first homer of the season in the third inning on Tuesday and followed with a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

Joey Ortiz Smashed A Much-Needed Homer On Tuesday

Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz (3) reacts after hitting a solo home run off of San Diego Padres pitcher Matt Waldron during the third inning of their game Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Joey gets us on the board with his first long ball of the year pic.twitter.com/1Qkz9koITC
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) May 13, 2026

For Ortiz, it certainly hasn't been an easy season. He's trying to figure things out at the plate and there has been chatter pretty much all season about Milwaukee's No. 4 overall prospect, Cooper Pratt. He signed a long-term extension with Milwaukee before even being promoted to the big leagues. Pratt still hasn't been promoted to the majors, but when you sign an extension over $50 million before making your MLB debut, clearly the club has faith in you. At some point, Pratt's time will come.

That's got to be difficult as a player knowing that your replacement as a club's starting shortstop is looking over your shoulder. While this is the case, Brewers manager Pat Murphy recently acknowledged that Ortiz still gives the Brewers the best chance to win right now.

"Joey gives us the best chance to win today,” Murphy said, as transcribed by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s a tremendous defender. This team has averaged 95 or so wins the last two years when he’s been here. He’s a big part of that. I love the kid. As long as he’s on our roster I’m going to keep going with him as long as the situation calls for it.”

It's been a tough go for Ortiz, but Tuesday was a step in the right direction for him.

Ortiz noted after the game that he saw William Contreras doing well in the cage before the game and went into the game with the mindset that he wanted to be like the Brewers' catcher. Clearly, he accomplished that on Tuesday.

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