The Brewers sent third baseman Joey Ortiz for an MRI this afternoon, according to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Manager Pat Murphy told reporters, including Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that the imaging came back “all good” on Ortiz. He has some abdominal swelling, while his right knee bruise isn’t viewed as serious. McCalvy adds that Ortiz won’t play in tomorrow’s regular season finale, but he should be in good shape for the Division Series, which begins on Saturday, October 3rd. Milwaukee has the best record in the National League and thus a first-round bye in the playoffs.

The MRI comes after Ortiz exited Friday’s game in the eighth inning with the aforementioned right knee bruise. According to Murphy, Ortiz had also been dealing with oblique and groin issues. David Hamilton slid over from shortstop to third when Ortiz left the game. He started at third in today’s 3-2 win over the Cardinals, going 1-for-3 with a double and a strikeout.

The 28-year-old Ortiz has batted .270/.328/.402 in 415 plate appearances, grading out 3% better than league average by wRC+. That’s a massive improvement over last year’s 67 wRC+, and Ortiz has backed it up with excellent defense. He started the season at shortstop and has mostly played the hot corner since Cooper Pratt was brought up to play short in the middle of June. Statcast values Ortiz at +8 Outs Above Average in almost 600 innings at short and +9 OAA in under 400 innings at third. The latter is tied with the Cubs’ Alex Bregman for second-best among third basemen, and Bregman has played almost 860 more innings there than Ortiz.

Nobody would confuse Ortiz for a star player, but he’s quietly been a solid contributor to the Brewers’ dominant regular season. A right-handed hitter, Ortiz has actually shown reverse platoon splits this year, putting up a 112 wRC+ against same-handed pitching versus an 85 wRC+ in 150 plate appearances against southpaws. Meanwhile, the lefty-swinging Hamilton is 16% worse than average at the plate by wRC+, and 30% worse than average against lefties. His defensive grades are more mixed than those of Ortiz, as Hamilton has been worth +7 Defensive Runs Saved, but -11 OAA across third base, shortstop, and second base.

The Brewers will monitor Ortiz’s abdominal swelling during their five days off between tomorrow and the Division Series. If he misses time during the playoffs, the team will have to pull from their third base depth, and there aren’t many good options there. Hamilton is currently the only backup infielder on the active roster. He would be a massive downgrade at the plate. Andrew Vaughn has a 133 wRC+ and should be back from the IL by October 3rd, but he’s only played 14 games at third base this year. That’s it for infielders on the 40-man roster. Jonathan Ornelas is in the organization on a minor league pact, but he hasn’t hit at all in limited big league action.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images