What’s the upside for the Brewers’ infield?

Without Willy Adames, will the infield have enough offense?

The Milwaukee Brewers will enter the new year without Willy Adames. What does that mean for their offense?

The infield is overflowing with defensively gifted talent. The fact that there are multiple options to fill in at shortstop and give the team another shot at the team Golden Glove is a luxury. But the team needs offensive production to take the next step.

There are young players across the diamond, but they haven’t exhibited top-tier offensive production in their short careers. Will they take the next step? Will the team need the rest of the roster to compensate?

This is an oversimplification, but many of the infielders fit into a similar mold. They’re defensively strong, they have a solid plate approach, and they provide value on the bases to make up for a lack of power. Brice Turang is one of the top examples of this archetype. He is one of the best defenders and base stealers in the league. But when he wasn’t hitting near .300, his offensive production staggered.

There are players who either haven’t made the majors or received only a little time at the top level to fully grasp what they might offer. Players like Tyler Black and Caleb Durbin, for example, could play significant roles in the upcoming season. Oliver Dunn played in 41 games last year and had just one home run.

The Brewers can field a lineup with nearly every batter boasting a solid plate approach. That might be enough to help push through the regular season, but there will need to be some improvement if they want to look like a serious contender again. This could be as simple as Turang and Joey Ortiz showcasing improvement in 2025.

Turang has a high-upside profile with his entertaining play and consistent plate approach. In his second season, his strikeout rate dipped from 21% to 17%. His batting average made a leap from .218 to .254. Even with that improvement, he was still a below-average bat with an 87 wRC+. Of course, that comes with the caveat again that he provides extreme value on the basepaths and with his glove. It doesn’t seem unrealistic to expect him to push past that this year.

He was incredible in the first half, but from July onward, he had a .257 BABIP. That’s a poor result for someone as fast as Turang. Part of that results simply from getting the ball in play, even if it’s weak contact, rather than striking out. But this all resulted in a .214 batting average in that time. Really? That seems like a wild swing to the low side of what Turang might do next year.

There could be a similar story for Ortiz. In his rookie season, Ortiz had a 104 wRC+, a great result for a player taking on a full-time role for the first time. Similar to Turang, Ortiz struggled throughout the back half of the year. From July 1 on, he had a .205 batting average while making slightly less impactful contact. He has great contact skills with a 94% zone-contact rate, but without top-tier power, that batting average will need to rise for him to become a productive hitter.

The Brewers are one of the heaviest groundball teams in the league. Five Brewers ranked in the top-24 for groundball rates this year. This could be a solid foundation for any given player. The ability to simply get the ball in play is valued already, and then just a small tweak to lead to more line drives or more hard-hit balls could lead to more hits. There’s a path where a lack of power causes the infield to struggle offensively at times, but there’s also a way for this group to become a dangerous unit that puts together rallies, threaten on the basepaths, and force pitchers into difficult situations.

All stats courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.