A centerpiece of the Corbin Burnes trade, Joey Ortiz looks like the real deal for the Brewers

In Joey Ortiz, all the witching hour Planet Fitness gym rats have a fellow late-night lifting aficionado.

A couple weeks ago, Ortiz, normally a pregame lifter, made the switch over to postgame workouts after his early-afternoon sessions were leaving him feeling fatigued by the time the game was over.

Now, a couple times a week, after the final out is recorded and while his teammates are in the dining room or headed home, Ortiz takes off his uniform, changes into shorts and has the clubhouse weight room all to himself.

“I was just like, ‘Let’s do it after,’” Ortiz said. “I like it better, honestly. I can just relax and be tired at home.”

He likes the results that have come with it better, too.

Since he clocked both his first career homer and a walk-off hit on April 26 against the Yankees, Ortiz is 8 for 25 with three homers, three doubles, a triple, six walks and an OPS of 1.318. He’s had great swing decisions, is walking about as much as he strikes out and features plenty of damage; his lone single in that stretch was the walk-off knock to kickstart this hot streak.

“It’s just having a good approach,” Ortiz said. “Making sure I’m swinging at the pitches I want to swing at. It’s pretty much that. Getting the pitches I want and not missing when I do.”

One of those homers came as part of a 7-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday evening at American Family Field, the latest episode in a series involving two teams headed in seemingly opposite directions that has been dominated by Milwaukee of late.

The Cardinals continue to lag behind the Brewers

With one out in the fourth inning Thursday, the in-game operations crew at American Family Field played a new tune over the stadium speakers. It was the verse from Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” that reverberated for a couple short seconds in the eardrums of the roughly 25,000 patrons.

They not like us. They not like us.

Perhaps it was just an acknowledgment to a recent drop from a hip hop beef that has gone viral.

Or, perhaps, it could be viewed as a statement about the product on the field.

It seems almost bizarre to think given the state of the Cardinals for almost the entirety of the past two-plus decades, but the lyrics might just be applicable to the current state of the two ballclubs.

With the win, the Brewers moved to 22-15 on the season, seven games clear of the inverse record-owning Cardinals, and in first place in the division.

And it’s not just this young season, either, that the Brewers have been a few steps ahead.

Dating back to the start of the 2023 season, the Brewers are 114-85. The Cardinals are 86-113. Milwaukee has won nine of the last 10 games in the series.

There's lots of baseball left to be played, but it could be that, both in present and future tense, these are organizations heading in opposite directions.

Joey Ortiz is coming into his own and deserves more playing time

Near the top of the list of reasons why the Brewers are ahead at present and seem to have the brighter future is Ortiz, who homered for a second consecutive game Thursday. The 25-year-old  infielder continues to come into his own, showing signs of the ability to form a promising middle infield combination with Brice Turang for the future in Milwaukee.

With the homer, Ortiz, who is now batting .267 with three homers and a .871 OPS on the year with nearly as many walks (14) as strikeouts (17).

Ortiz hasn’t had steady playing time yet this year, but continues to show he deserves it.

Ortiz has been deemed a “starter” in the past by manager Pat Murphy but also has been utilized in what’s effectively been a full-time platoon with Oliver Dunn at third base.

Ortiz had started 21 of the team’s 36 games, played 15 complete games and accumulated 86 plate appearances. Dunn had started in 18, played nine all the way to completion and garnered 83 plate appearances.

While Dunn’s defense has been stellar, his bat – he carries a .602 OPS and 37.3% strikeout rate – has at times lagged.

Murphy on Sunday in Chicago said Dunn, who started all three games in that series and five of seven overall at third, was getting an extended look to see what the Brewers had in him.

But it’s Ortiz, who homered in his most recent game Tuesday at Kansas City, as well, who is pushing for more starts with his bat.

“I mean, it’s getting to the point where you start doing damage,” Murphy said. “Hitting balls 105, 107 (mph). The guy also playing third, Oliver, is a good player. Major-league player. He’s a good player and gives us some options.

“But Joey’s been so darn good defensively and so darn good driving the ball that I consider him a starter.”

A well-rounded game has been key for Ortiz

In addition to his home run Thursday, Ortiz also made an impressive and critical play in the field on a chopper from Lars Nootbaar with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth inning. Ortiz charged the ball, scooped it on a short hop, squared his body toward home and in one quick motion fired a strike to get the force at the plate.

“It was a slow roller coming in,” Ortiz said. “And usually on those plays where you can’t turn two just go four and get the out there.”

That’s making it sound a lot easier than it was.

“I try and make every play be routine,” Ortiz said. “We work on every situation before the game. So it just felt routine.”

This is the first time in Ortiz’s career that he hasn’t been an everyday player, but at this rate he’s making a strong case to become one once again.

It isn't just his surface numbers that have been stellar, either. Look under the hood and Ortiz has some intriguing elements, including excellent pitch selection and contact. His 23% chase rate entered the day fourth-best on the Brewers, while his contact rate was second behind only Turang. Mix in the fact that he's started to punish the baseball, including his homer Thursday which had a 103.1 mph exit velocity, and you can see glimpses of a complete package.

It’s starting to look like the investment on Ortiz, a centerpiece for the Brewers in the Corbin Burnes trade in February, was a wise one.

“He’s just a good baseball player. He really is,” outfielder Christian Yelich said. “Some of those plays he makes on defense where he’s throwing on the run, he makes it look easy. It’s incredibly difficult with the catch, the footwork, the transfer, really quality at-bats. He can run a little bit, too. A really solid baseball player. I think he flies under the radar sometimes but he’s got quality at-bats and is learning to hit for some power, too, which is pretty cool.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Joey Ortiz, acquired in the Burnes trade, looking strong for Brewers