Ortiz had a solid rookie season in Milwaukee
We’re continuing our rankings of the Brewers’ 10 most valuable players in 2024 with third baseman Joey Ortiz. Ortiz finished the season with 2.7 bWAR and 3.1 fWAR, good for sixth and fourth on the team, respectively.
Ortiz was solid all season long, but especially before going down with an injury in late June. Prior to the injury, Ortiz was raking, as he enjoyed an incredible May in which he hit .307/.391/.587 with four homers, seven doubles, 12 RBIs, and 16 runs across 23 games.
After a rough July (.158/.222/.211 with no homers and four RBIs over 15 games), Ortiz picked it up again down the stretch, hitting .247/.305/.435 with two homers, 15 RBIs, 13 runs, and four steals across the final 26 games.
Overall, Ortiz hit .239/.329/.398 (101 OPS+) with 11 homers, 25 doubles, six triples, 60 RBIs, 58 runs, and 11 steals across 142 games.
Beyond his offensive success, Ortiz ranked as one of the best defensive third basemen in the bigs in 2024. He finished the year in the 89th percentile in Baseball Savant’s fielding run value rankings, with 11 outs above average, which ranked in the 96th percentile.
At the plate, he finished in the 83rd percentile in walk rate (11%), the 89th percentile in whiff rate (17%), the 75th percentile in chase rate (24.7%), and the 76th percentile in bat speed (average 73.4 mph).
With Willy Adames unlikely to return to Milwaukee in free agency, Ortiz may move over to shortstop, where he spent the majority of his time in the minors (241 starts across four seasons). As the shortstop, he’ll look to take another step forward in his sophomore season in 2025.
We’ll continue our rankings of the 10 most valuable Brewers each Monday and Wednesday into early December. Come back on Wednesday to see who we have at No. 7.
- Joey Ortiz (2.7 bWAR, 3.1 fWAR)
- Trevor Megill (1.3 bWAR, 1.0 fWAR)
- Sal Frelick (2.1 bWAR, 1.5 fWAR)