The Milwaukee Brewers closed the regular season as the National League’s top seed, and the first question hanging over their October plans is how much they will have from infielder Joey Ortiz.
Manager Patrick Murphy said Ortiz would not take a full part in Tuesday’s workouts as the club monitors a cluster of lingering issues that have followed the 27-year-old into the postseason.
Ortiz has been dealing with a knee problem that sent him for an MRI earlier this week.
The scan showed a bruise rather than structural damage, which is the better of the available outcomes, but it is not the only thing the Brewers are watching.
He has also been managing oblique and groin discomfort, and Murphy’s comment that the team will “keep an eye on” him made clear that the staff is treating availability as something to be earned day by day rather than assumed, via Brewers insider Adam McCalvy.
That caution is understandable given what Ortiz has meant to Milwaukee this year.
Over 134 games he posted a .270/.328/.402 line with nine home runs and 47 RBI, adding 2.6 wins above replacement while moving between shortstop and third base.
He is not a middle-of-the-order force, but he has been a steady presence in a lineup that just set a franchise record with 103 victories. When he is limited, the Brewers lose both a capable defender and a contact-oriented bat that can lengthen innings.
The timing is awkward. Milwaukee opens the National League Division Series on Saturday against the winner of the Cubs-Padres Wild Card series.
Games 1 and 2 are scheduled for Oct. 3 and 4, which leaves only a handful of days for Ortiz to prove he can take a full workload.
A bruise can quiet down quickly, and the other soft-tissue issues may respond to rest, but playoff baseball does not leave much room for players who are still easing back into activity.
Murphy’s public language was measured rather than alarming. Ortiz is not being ruled out, and the MRI result at least removed the worst-case scenarios from the conversation.
Still, the Brewers have already shown they will not rush him if he cannot participate fully.
For a club that earned the right to open the series at home, the next few practices will determine whether Ortiz is a regular in the infield or a player they have to work around when the games start to count.
