Cooper Pratt had a blooped single behind first base. Instead of feeling confident about ending his dry spell in the last 6 games, he started walking straight toward the dugout. People were wondering whether his hamstring strain from earlier this month had resurfaced. But as it turned out, Pat Murphy wasn’t happy with his performance. 

“Pat Murphy benched rookie Cooper Pratt mid-game for not running hard out of the box,” Jomboy Media captioned the clip shared on X. 

The Milwaukee Brewers were leading 1-0 entering the fifth. Pratt arrived on the plate with just 1 out. The New York Mets starter Zac Thornton delivered a 92-mph fastball, and the 22-year-old swung his bat.

Initially, he wasn’t sure where the ball went. After he spotted it in the air, he started running. But he probably thought it would be a foul ball and kept his eyes glued to it while reaching first base.

The ball eventually dropped in the fair territory behind 1B. Pratt even thought of extending to second but immediately retracted, seeing the fielder had got the ball. 

While it was a routine single, it wasn’t enough for the manager. But his discontent didn’t stem from this one play. 

Earlier, he had two bunt attempts during the third inning.

He failed both times. Pratt even pulled back on one of them and ended up with a strike. And there were more issues in the 5th.

The rookie shortstop didn’t immediately hustle after hitting the ball. That was enough for Murphy to put his foot down. 

“You’ve got to be locked in if you’re going to play at this level,” the manager explained why he replaced Pratt with David Hamilton.

Hamilton pinch-ran for Pratt and remained as a third base defender in the game. Joey Ortiz slid in at shortstop. The pinch-runner was 0 for 2, including an 80 mph liner that almost gave the Brewers the lead in the ninth.

But the opportunity was plucked out of the air by an aerial Francisco Lindor, along with a costly defensive error.

With the bases loaded and one out in the 10th, Trevor Megill got a grounder from Christopher Morel to Hamilton’s left. The third baseman made the stop but didn’t set his feet properly and rushed the throw home, yanking it to the backstop.

Noting that, Murphy shared that taking Pratt out “didn’t affect the outcome of the game.”

“You can speculate that stuff. You can make it out that taking out Pratt was the difference…You could arguably say Hamilton covers as much ground as anybody. He’s been great for us.”

But per Murphy, “It was hopefully a good learning experience,” for the rookie.

Cooper Pratt was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixth round (182nd overall pick) of the 2023 MLB Draft out of Magnolia Heights High School in Senatobia, Mississippi. On June 16, he made his big-league debut and has been batting .259 with a .680 OPS.

Cooper Pratt was 0-for-17 entering Tuesday’s game. And he recorded two more hitless at-bats before that single. With such a slump and not enough hustle, Murphy didn’t overlook that. Again.

The back-to-back NL manager of the year (2024 and 2025) had benched Sal Frelick for missing the cutoff man back in April. He also pulled Caleb Durbin for getting picked off in the same month. But the recent decision was only to reiterate the needs.

It didn’t necessarily change Pat Murphy’s perspective of the youngster. 

“It’s for the player and the team,” he said after the game. “I love [Pratt], and I believe in the kid immensely. But he’s got to be a player who does those things. He’s not going to hit 30 homers at this point in his career. He’s a great defender and a really capable offensive player, and he can’t have that. It’s just not tolerated by anybody, and it sends a message to everybody else, too. You’ve got to run.”

By early August, he had drawn walks at a solid 10.6% rate, showing good pitch recognition. Even though his bat speed is a little below average, he makes consistent contact with a 20.6% strikeout rate. The youngster has also recorded a 76% success rate in terms of OAA.

Surely, he himself knows what he is capable of.

During his 3-minute post-game interview, Pratt was visibly emotional, wiping away tears. He held himself accountable for not hustling out a potential double on the heels of his unsuccessful bunt in his prior at-bat.

“From not getting the bunt down to not running hard to first and turning it into a double, it won’t happen again. I can promise you that. It’s not winning baseball.”

Cooper turns painful benching into a promise

“I’ve got to be better,” Pratt said postgame. “It’s stuff that can’t happen. It’s not winning baseball.”

The downtrodden rookie repeated the ‘won’t happen again’ phrase five times in that short span, and acknowledged the errors to be “inexcusable.”

The Brewers lost the series opener 3-2 in extra innings. This was their second consecutive loss. But that is not just on Pratt. But he is not denying that he failed to complete his duties. 

The Brewers are leading the NL Central with an 81-51 record. They are the top-seeded team in the National League. Many people would be comfortable with such a position, but not Pat Murphy.

He is being extra cautious with just 30 games remaining in the regular season. And he understands the stakes.

If the positions remain as is, Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Dodgers will get their byes. And probably meet in the NLCS.

LA is aiming for their 3rd World Series championship in a row while the Brewers are yet to achieve their first in the franchise’s history. 

Winning in the regular season is one thing, but lackluster performance won’t achieve their goals in October. And Cooper Pratt is well aware of that. That’s why he promises to be better. And more importantly, he takes the benching positively. As he sat on the bench, he made sure to discuss the issue with Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick.

“They hold you accountable, which is good,” Pratt noted. “I need that. It will never happen again.”

And that’s exactly the mindset Pat Murphy wants to see from his boys. For now, the Brewers will try harder to take the series back from the Mets.