Brice Turang figures to be the second baseman once again, but there’s always a chance he moves over to shortstop
Looking back at our second base preview from 2024, the Brewers’ main guy, Brice Turang, is still the leader at the position. Beyond Turang, however, there are several changes. Joey Ortiz is now the presumed starter at shortstop, Owen Miller is now in the Colorado Rockies organization, and Milwaukee has added Caleb Durbin.
Andruw Monasterio, Oliver Dunn, and Vinny Capra all remain in the Brewers organization, and any one of them could very well start the season at the major league level as a utility option between second base, third base, and shortstop.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at Milwaukee’s second base depth heading into 2025.
Brice Turang
Turang, 25, took a major step forward in his second season with the major league squad. After posting a dismal .218/.285/.300 line in 2023, he leveled up to hit .254/.316/.349 with seven homers, 57 RBIs, 72 runs, and 50 steals across 155 games. He also provided plus-plus defense, finishing with 4.7 bWAR as he won the NL Platinum Gold Glove.
While he doesn’t hit for a ton of power, Turang more than makes up for it with his speed and defensive ability. He was hitting .300 early in the year last season as he put more emphasis on making contact, which ultimately drove his strikeout rate down from 2023 (21% to 17%). If he can maintain those numbers in 2025, he’ll remain a cornerstone of the roster in year three.
Baseball Reference projects Turang to do just that in 2025, with a line of .246/.312/.350 with nine homers, 52 RBIs, 64 runs, and 36 steals to go with a strikeout rate around 18%.
Caleb Durbin
Durbin, also 25, joined Milwaukee in December along with Nestor Cortes in the Devin Williams trade. A former 14th-round pick, Durbin had a breakout in the Arizona Fall League and looks ready to take the next step into the majors.
He spent most of 2024 with New York’s Triple-A affiliate, where he hit .287/.396/.471 with 10 homers, 60 RBIs, 57 runs, and 29 steals in just 82 games. In the AFL, he hit .312/.427/.548 with five homers, 21 RBIs, 26 runs, and an AFL-record 29 steals in just 24 games. Though he’s had his struggles in spring training — .192/.250/.423 with two homers, six runs, and a steal across 28 plate appearances — he figures to start the season with the Brewers.
Durbin could be the Opening Day third baseman if Turang starts at second and Ortiz starts at shortstop, but he can fill in at any of those positions if needed.
Andruw Monasterio
Monasterio, 28 in May, had a down year after a promising rookie campaign in 2023. He hit .259/.330/.348 with three homers, 27 RBIs, 38 runs, and seven steals across 92 games in 2023 but hit just .208/.303/.272 with a homer, 16 RBIs, 14 runs, and six steals across 59 games in 2024, totaling -0.2 bWAR.
Like most of the others on this list, Monasterio provides versatility as an infielder who can play anywhere on the dirt. With Willy Adames gone and Durbin now in the fold, it’s unclear how much of a role Monasterio has on this roster. It seems likely at least one of him, Dunn, or Capra will make the Opening Day roster, with Dunn and Monasterio having the leg up as players already on the 40-man roster.
Monasterio is 5-for-12 with a homer, two RBIs, four runs, and a steal this spring. BR projects Monasterio to have a similar role as he’s had the last two years, with a .244/.320/.356 line with five homers, 31 RBIs, 31 runs, and eight steals across 303 plate appearances.
Oliver Dunn
Dunn, 27, was another AFL breakout star, though he broke out with the Phillies in the fall of 2023 before being added by the Brewers. He made his debut in 2024 but ultimately only made 104 plate appearances as he was shelved with a back injury for most of the year. In 41 games with Milwaukee, Dunn hit .221/.282/.316 with one homer, seven RBIs, 11 runs, and three steals.
Dunn spent most of his time with the Brewers at third base (27 games), though he spent most of his minor league tenure as a second baseman. He can also play shortstop and left field, where he spent 140 1⁄3 innings in the minors.
Like Monasterio, Dunn is making his case to be on the major league roster with a strong spring, hitting .391/.440/.652 with a homer, three doubles, five runs, and two steals across 26 plate appearances. He’s projected by BR to make 252 plate appearances this season, hitting .238/.304/.374 with six homers, 25 RBIs, 29 runs, and six steals.
Vinny Capra
Capra, 28, is one of the more interesting names on this list if only for his career path to this point. A 20th-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2018, Capra made his debut in 2022 and has spent time in the bigs with the Jays, Pirates, and Brewers over the last three seasons, though he’s totaled just 37 plate appearances.
Spending most of his 2024 with Triple-A Nashville, Capra hit .261/.348/.382 with eight homers, 53 RBIs, 61 runs, and 10 steals across 110 games with the Sounds. In his short three-game stint with Milwaukee last year, he had one hit (a double) across nine at-bats.
His spring training has gone better than even Monasterio and Dunn, as he’s hitting .368/.400/1.053 with a league-high four homers, eight RBIs, four runs, and two steals across just 21 plate appearances. BR projects him to get MLB plate appearances — though that seems like a pretty liberal estimate — as he’s expected to hit .232/.302/.389 with six homers, 21 RBIs, 25 runs, and four steals.
Isaac Collins
Collins offers more versatility than anyone else on this list for two reasons — he’s a switch hitter, and he can play pretty much any position. The bulk of his time in the minors came between second base (176 games) and left field (166 games), though he’s also made several appearances in the other outfield spots and at third base.
Collins hit .273/.386/.475 with 14 homers, 76 RBIs, 75 runs, and 24 steals in 113 games with the Sounds in 2024. Now ranked as Milwaukee’s No. 30 prospect by MLB Pipeline, Collins made his MLB debut in September as he hit .118/.211/.118 with two singles across 17 at-bats, appearing at both second base and in left field.
He’s had a disappointing spring, though, hitting just .077/.200/.077 with one hit in 5 plate appearances. BR projects him to get some MLB service again this year, with a line of .234/.306/.383 with six homers, 22 RBIs, 23 runs, and five steals across 210 plate appearances.