Has Willy Adames finally found his footing with the SF Giants after breakout week?

After an excruciatingly slow start to his time in San Francisco, it looks like Willy Adames is finally turning things around. The SF Giants shortstop was paid a lot this offseason but many fans feel he has not been worth it.

The shortstop was struggling. Adames was in the middle of a six-game hitless streak, during which he was 0-18 with four walks, one run scored and one run batted in. Then suddenly, something clicked.

Over the past week, Adames smacked three home runs and a double, driven in six runs and crossed the plate six times.

SF Giants shortstop Willy Adames finding his stride

Over the past week, he's raised his OPS to .624, his slugging percentage has climbed to .340, and his batting average is back above the Mendoza line, at .201. Those numbers are still not great, but they are a sign of modest improvement.

Has Adames finally turned things around? It sure feels like it. The bigger question is, can he keep it up? Obviously, Adames is not going to be slugging 1.000 the rest of the season, but if he could slug .400 the rest of the way, it would be huge. He's not going to hit .375, but he probably could hit .250, and that would be a massive improvement over his contributions during the first two months of the season.

Some good news is that he's hitting the ball harder. Four of his 11 hardest-hit balls this season have come in the last four games. Before June 10th, Adames had an average exit velocity of 88.4 miles per hour. In a four-game stretch over the past week, Adames had an average exit velocity of 94.5 in 13 balls put in play. Yes, it is a small sample size. But it is a significant jump, and signals something has turned around.

Here's the caveat. Two of those three home runs came at Coors Field, the ballpark known for being the most hitter-friendly in baseball. Adames also has five strikeouts in his past four games, meaning he has not solved his strikeout issues yet. Could these four games just be the result of a series in Colorado against a bad pitching staff?

Giants manager Bob Melvin does not think so.

"The swing looks a lot smoother," Melvin told NBC Sports. "He's not trying to force anything ... It just looks like there's way less tension in his swing and we're seeing the results."

Adames still has plenty of time to rewrite the story of his season. With Matt Chapman on the injured list, the Giants needed to step up, and so far, Adames has.