San Francisco Giants Shortstop Shows Signs of Life After Dropping in Lineup

The San Francisco Giants have jumped out to a strong 24-18 start to the 2025 season. It has been much better than anyone expected to this point, and some of their key players have not even lived up to their full potential yet.

One player in particular, Willy Adames, was the team's biggest offseason acquisition. President of baseball operations Buster Posey signed the shortstop to a seven-year, $182 million deal, the largest in franchise history.

With a contract of that nature, high expectations are inevitable. But Adames's struggles have not shown any signs of coming to an end, leading to manager Bob Melvin dropping the veteran in the lineup for last night's contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks. While it still was not a great showing from the shortstop, now batting sixth, Adames showed signs of life at the plate.

Willy Adames Shows Signs of Life At Plate After Drop in Lineup

The Diamondbacks sent starter Merril Kelly to the mound for Monday's contest. While he is not the biggest name in the rotation, a unit that includes Zac Gallen and Corbin Burnes, Kelly has been one of their better options this year, and a struggle for most hitters to face.

Adames was able to have some success against the pitcher, going 1-for-3 with a double on the night against Kelly.

Adames was called out on strikes in his first plate appearance of the night on a 1-2 sinker that snuck back over the outer edge of the plate. In his next at-bat, he took a 1-2 four-seam fastball back up the middle into center field for a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth, his eighth of the year.

His third at-bat would see a lengthy eight-pitch battle between Adames and Kelly, that the latter eventually won with a swinging strikeout on a 3-2 changeup. Even with the strikeout, Adames battling and driving Kelly's pitch count up in such a way is a great sign from the veteran, who has now seen 4.086 pitches per plate appearance on the year.

The battle shows that Adames is starting to see the ball better, and it could lead to him finally breaking out of the months-long slump he has started his Giants tenure with.

San Francisco needs Adames to be the player they gave the $182 million contract to. Once he reaches the levels of production he has shown in the past, it will be off to the races for the offense.