Willy Adames Has Come as Advertised After All

In an offseason that had teams focused on Juan Soto, the Giants didn’t waste time on the outfielder and placed their attention on Adames from the beginning. It worked out, as San Francisco landed a new face of the franchise, and Adames got the payday he’d surely been dreaming of since he was a kid.

Unfortunately, Adames got off to an extremely underwhelming start with the Giants that had everyone wondering if the contract was worth it. Fast-forward to today, and he’s been able to flip the script and put together a fairly strong season in year one of the deal.

Let’s take a look at Willy Adames’ strange first year in the City by the Bay.

An Off Day For The Ages

It’s no secret that Adames got off to a less-than-ideal start to his career with the Giants. Whether he was trying to do too much or simply not performing well, he looked like a shell of the player who had a career year with the Brewers the season prior.

To be frank, it was rough. In his first 65 games with the Giants, he was one of the worst hitters in all of baseball. He wasn’t even hitting above the Mendoza line, with a .193 batting average, and his slugging percentage was barely floating above .300 (.303). This was good for a horrendous OPS of .584 and a wRC+ that was 32 points below league average (68).

Fans were quick to say Adames was a poor signing and went as far as to say that the Giants had paid $182 million for a glue guy. While he wasn’t performing well, he was still playing every day with a smile and the first one out of the dugout to hug his teammates after a home run.

Eventually, Adames’ positive attitude paid off, and everything turned around. Known as somebody who wants to play every day and get close to 162 games every year, Adames was scheduled a rare day off on June 8 before a team off day the day after.

It was clear that the two consecutive days off were meant to give Adames an opportunity to clear his head and try to get right for the rest of the season. With how things went for the shortstop after that day, one could argue that it was one of the more important off days in the Giants’ history.

The returns were immediate. Adames homered in three of the four games that followed the off day, with one coming in his first at-bat as a part of the historic rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers. However, it didn’t stop there.

Adames went on to have an insane run, becoming one of the best hitters in baseball for close to two months. From June 10 to July 31, in 43 games, the highest-paid man in the history of the Giants’ franchise was playing like it, if not better.

Willy Adames from 6/10-7/31

While, clearly, this type of production wasn’t going to last for the remainder of the year, it did bring his full-season numbers closer to his career norms. It’s only right for Giants fans to wonder what his numbers would look like if he hadn’t gotten off to such a bad start.

While he probably won’t finish with numbers quite as impressive as those from his final season in Milwaukee, his first year with San Francisco has ended up being a success.

Adames is currently slashing .222/.312/.402 with 22 home runs and 66 RBIs. It may not be what Giants fans were hoping for from their star shortstop, but with how his season started, those numbers don’t look too bad.

As a matter of fact, the run Adames went on actually made him an above-average big league hitter with a wRC+ that currently sits at 102. If he gets hot again, he could also flirt with 30 home runs, a number no Giants hitter has reached since Barry Bonds. That expectation was placed on him as soon as he signed his deal.

As of now, Adames sits at 2.9 fWAR for the 2025 season. With a little over a month to go, one would expect him to get into the mid-3.0s in that category. It helps that his glove has also looked better over the last few months.

Final Thoughts

While it’s just year one of a seven-year deal, it has ended up being a solid inaugural campaign in San Francisco for Adames. Even though it didn’t get off to the start anyone expected, it’s encouraging to see Adames have success in his new home.

With the organization striking out so many times in free agency, it was refreshing for the fanbase to see a star player choose their team and want to play in their city. If year one is any indication, Adames could be a big part of what Buster Posey is trying to build. His ability to weather the storm and still deliver makes the rest of his $182 million deal feel significantly more promising than it did in the early returns.