Brewers bring in Ji Hwan Bae on minors contract

On the same day that he inks a minor league contract with the Brewers, Bae gets promoted to join the big league club with shortstop Cooper Pratt (hamstring) landing on the injured list. His versatility and speed should allow Bae to fit in perfectly with what the Brewers like to do, making him an intriguing speed option in NL-only or deeper mixed league formats when he’s in the lineup.

We still haven’t received word on the result from Pratt’s MRI so we don’t know how serious the strain is, but he’ll miss a couple of weeks at a minumim while recovering. Ji Hwan Bae was promoted from Triple-A Nashville to take his place on the active roster.

Pratt has been nursing a minor hamstring injury for a few days and the Brewers will have him undergo an MRI exam to determine the extent of the injury. David Hamilton will start in his place at shortstop on Sunday and will bat ninth against Twins’ southpaw Connor Prielipp.

Ortiz went 0-for-1 with a strikeout before exiting. The 28-year-old has been replaced by David Hamilton. Ortiz will likely undergo further evaluation to determine his status for Sunday and beyond.

Pratt is up to .288/.379/.396 as a major leaguer, which, rather surprisingly, is a fair amount better than his .241/.349/.386 from his time at Triple-A Nashville this year. With the Brewers possessing two of the game’s best shortstop prospects still making their way through the minors, Pratt’s long-term outlook in Milwaukee remains a little cloudy, even after his pre-callup extension. However, he should definitely hold on to the starting job for the rest of the season.

Pratt’s home run was his second. He hit a solo shot off Ryan Feltner in the second inning. Pratt is now hitting .281 with a .753 OPS and 11 RBI in his first 31 games in the majors.

Ortiz’s triple was a 343-foot fly to right that should have been caught, but it was a nice day regardless. All three of his balls in play were hard-hit, and he made a couple of nice plays at third. Ortiz finishes the three-game series 5-for-9 with a homer. He’s hit .338 with four homers and 13 RBI in his last 21 games, raising his OPS from .530 to .662.

The speedster was also caught stealing in his first rehab game since landing on the injured list on July 7th. Hamilton had been playing well before the injury, slashing .313/.353/.438 in his last 15 games with four RBI and four steals. With Joey Ortiz also starting to hit well, Hamilton’s imminent return could cut into Cooper Pratt’s playing time.

Pratt’s home run was the first of the season and first of his MLB career. He hit a solo shot off Freddy Peralta in the second inning. Pratt came into the game hitting .244 with a .305 slugging in 82 at-bats. Until he works out the kinks at the plate, Pratt’s fantasy utility will come from his speed as he already has six stolen bases.

Even though Ortiz is not hitting the cover off of the ball, what’s notable about this is that the shortstop has narrowed his stance. According to Statcast, in July, his feet have been a little over 26 inches apart with a stance that’s three degrees open. In the first two months of the season, his stance had his feet 29 inches apart and was nine degrees open. Narrowing and closing off the stance slightly is also the change that the Brewers made with Brice Turang to help fuel his breakout, so it’s something to watch in the second half of the season.