Can red-hot SF Giants shortstop keep his bat going in the second half?

SF Giants shortstop Willy Adames has been on a tear as of late. After the Giants signed him to a huge contract in the offseason, he is finally starting to look the part of star shortstop. Can he keep it going in the second half?

Adames’ tenure in a Giants uniform got off to an ominous start, with most of his contributions seemingly coming in the dugout. From Opening Day through June 8th, he floundered to a .193/.281/.303 slash line in his 279 plate appearances, which was only worth 68 wRC+.

SF Giants shortstop Willy Adames needs to have a big second half

His walk and strikeout rates were pretty much in line with his career averages, but his .111 ISO in that time was miles south of his career .192 mark in that department, and the .211 mark he achieved in his career year last season.

The good news is, Adames has seemingly turned things around at the plate in a big way since June 9th. He’s done exactly what the Giants were hoping for when they inked him to a $182 million deal over the offseason, slashing .282/.364/.527 with a radically improved .245 ISO.

Though he’s improved in pretty much every statistical category, the big difference-maker has unsurprisingly been his improved quality of contact. His hard-hit percentage of 45.7% since June 9th dwarfs the 27.9% rate he held previously.

Even though he’s always been a guy who looks like he’s having a great time out there, it’s easy to see that he looks more relaxed and confident at the plate now that he’s broken out of his prolonged slump.

Looking back on past performance, there’s no reason to assume that he can’t keep inching his production back up closer to his career norms by season’s end. Since 2021, he has had a better batting average in the second half than the first in every single season. Just last year, he hit an impressive 17 homers in the second half after hitting 15 in the first half over 33 more games.

Plus, he should be highly motivated by being in the middle of a playoff race in his first season in San Francisco, and he has more lineup protection now than he had in the first half, with Matt Chapman healthy again and Rafael Devers anchoring the middle of the lineup. Possibly the biggest change that could buoy his numbers, though, is his increased experience at Oracle Park and adapting his approach to accommodate his new confines.

Historically he’s had excellent power hitting the ball the other way, and that’s a lot harder to do with Triple's Alley and the 24-foot-tall wall looming in right field. From Opening Day through June 8th, when he found himself hitting below the Mendoza Line, he pulled the ball at a 39% clip, which was below his career 42.8% rate despite Oracle being a park he’d potentially see better results pulling the ball in.

From June 9th onward, his pull percentage has increased to 43.2%, and while that small of a difference could be written off as a sample-size anomaly, consider that his Oppo% has more than halved from 29.1% at the height of his struggles to 13.6% since June 9th. It would seem that he’s taken Oracle Park effects into account and tweaked his approach, which has reaped excellent rewards thus far.

Adames has already won over the clubhouse with his dynamic leadership and gregarious personality, and he’s starting to win over fans by becoming the slugging shortstop that was promised. If he can help the Giants tally more notches in the win column, they’ll be well on their way to securing a Wild Card berth as they’re only half a game behind the San Diego Padres entering the All-Star break.

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