Tyler Black's path to starting for the Brewers should be anything but certain

The Milwaukee Brewers infield does not have many question marks, that is until the team gets to third base. After exercising his player option, Rhys Hoskins will be in charge at first. The NL Platinum Glove Award winner Brice Turang will stay at second, while Joey Ortiz fills the void of Willy Adames at shortstop.

With those three positions locked up, that raises the question as to who will occupy third base. There are a few options for the team, with Pat Murphy leaning in directions other than Tyler Black.

With six games under his belt at first base last season, there was never a chance that Black was going to be replacing Hoskins. Black is seven years younger, and even with Hoskins not what he once was, Black still has a lot to prove in the big leagues.

The Brewers 2021 first round pick made his major league debut last season, hitting .241 in 229 plate appearances. Black was able to go deep on six occasions, finishing the season with 23 RBI. His slugging percentage sat at .389, and he added six steals to his resume.

Brewers have more options for third base than just Tyler Black

In terms of his competition, both Oliver Dunn and Andruw Monasterio are fighting for a spot. Dunn is in a similar situation where he still needs to prove himself, but Monasterio has been a mainstay with the team for a few seasons.

Each of these three players have their own strengths and weaknesses. Out of the trio, Oliver Dunn is the only one to carry a positive WAR coming out of the 2024 season. At 0.2, he topped Black (-0.1) and Monasterio (-0.2). Monasterio had nearly three times more at bats than Black, with Dunn sitting in the middle of the two hitting slightly better than Monasterio.

Both Dunn and Monasterio are still just 27 years old, having experience playing at third base. When it comes down to it, Dunn just gets the job done. He does have a smaller sample size, but in 18 games started at third base, he did not commit a single error. Through his 153 innings of work, Dunn was able to turn four double plays. Only three of his big-league innings were not played at third base.

Monasterio has had a much different defensive career with the Brewers, having split his time between second and third base. There's nothing wrong with that as everyone needs a utility man, but Monasterio's 623 innings at third base are still nearly double the time he's put in at second (324 innings). Monasterio has started 68 games over at third, turning 14 double plays in the process.

Even though he's played over four times more innings at third, it should be noted that Monasterio has 10 errors against him. 10 of his 12 big league errors have come at third base. To compare that to an even smaller sample size, Black played just 42 innings at first base last season. He did so without an error, turning five double plays.

There's no doubt that fielding has just as much of a factor as batting when Pat Murphy will decide who takes the third base spot. In the first two games of spring training, Caleb Durbin has started at third along with Oliver Dunn. Monasterio got some reps at second base, which does not come at a surprise.

Spring training results can be taken with a grain of salt, but they are still important live ball reps that are especially important for players like Caleb Durbin. Durbin came to Milwaukee as part of the Devin Williams trade, and the newly minted 25 year old had quite the success in the minor leagues. It'll be interesting to see if, or when Durbin makes his big-league debut.

Regardless, Tyler Black is not the man to lead the charge at third base. If he spends the majority of spring training taking reps at third, this conversation could change with an injury to the likes of Dunn or Monasterio. Black has not proven himself yet to be able to take a spot from either of those two.

Injuries happen and things change daily in the major leagues. There's no doubt that Tyler Black needs to be ready for his opportunity at any given moment, but for now, Pat Murphy seems to be trusting Oliver Dunn with third base duties.

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