There were several hitting stars for the Brewers in their 6-1 win over the White Sox Saturday night at ‘The Ueck.’ Brice Turang was 3-for-5 with two doubles. Christian Yelich stroked three singles in five trips. David Hamilton continued his impressive start by getting on base twice and stealing two bases.

But the player who put the biggest smile on manager Pat Murphy’s face tonight was Joey Ortiz.

Ortiz came into camp with 15 pounds of newfound muscle, a full beard, and a new, aggressive attitude. The shortstop collected two hits for the second straight game, but more than that, his swing appears to be much improved over last year’s version. No, he hasn’t really pulled anything yet, but he has been more on time with his swing, hitting two hard grounders up the middle tonight. He drove in Garrett Mitchell in the seventh and stole two of the team’s seven bases as the Brewers ran wild on former Brewer (if only for a short time), Reese McGuire.

So far this year, Ortiz is leading the Brewers with a .571 batting average, banging out four hits in seven at-bats while knocking in three runs. 

With the Brewers leading 5-1 in the top of the seventh, Ortiz showed his defensive chops. Colson Montgomery was perched on first with two outs as the White Sox were looking to rally. Austin Hays lined a shot to left field as Brandon Lockridge moved to his right to field the bounding ball. In his haste, he bobbled it, and Montgomery was waved home by the Sox’s third base coach. Down four runs, it was an ill-advised move as the run meant little at that point. Lockridge recovered and pegged a perfect strike to Ortiz, who turned in one motion and fired a laser from 150 feet away that catcher William Contreras caught shin high as Montgomery slid into the tag.

End of rally, end of inning.

Ortiz appears to be more confident early this season, and last year’s swing that seemed to result in pop-ups to the right side of the infield is hopefully a thing of the past. No, Ortiz won’t hit .300, and he won’t hit 20 homers. But if he can hit .270, draw a few walks, steal 20 bases, hit 12-15 jacks,  and play his usual sterling defense, the Brewers have no reason to replace him at the ‘6’ spot.