2 Brewers players who deserve more playing time, 1 who deserves less

Brewer who deserves less playing time: 3B Oliver Dunn

The battle for playing time at third base has been a story going back to the offseason. The Brewers didn't have a locked in answer there, but a collection of question marks. Could it be incumbent options Andruw Monasterio and Owen Miller, or top hitting prospect Tyler Black? But then the Brewers brought in Oliver Dunn from the Phillies and got Ortiz from the Orioles. Then Sal Frelick started learning third base and played there a ton throughout spring training.

How would third base play out with so many possibilities? That was the mystery. It's largely been the new guys, Ortiz and Dunn, as the season has gone along. Injuries to Garrett Mitchell and Christian Yelich forced Frelick to stay in the outfield. Dunn and Ortiz rose to the top of the depth chart.

Dunn started strong, hitting .322 in his first seven games, but he's struggled mightily since. In his last 25 games, Dunn is hitting just .189 (11 for 58). He has a 37.6% strikeout rate on the season. The strikeout numbers are particularly concerning. If he was making a lot of contact and just had nothing going his way, that happens sometimes, but the strikeouts are a problem.

Yet still, Dunn has started six of the 10 games to this point in the month of May, and he's played in nine of the 10. Ortiz has started four games and has played in only five games this month. Those numbers should get flipped.

Murphy has acknowledged he wants to see what he has in Dunn, which is why he's getting an extended stretch of playing time right now. Dunn hasn't been taking full advantage of his opportunity here and should see his playing time drop as a result.