Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email newsletters, including “The Dime.”
In good times and bad, Willy Adames always seemed upbeat, positive and comforting. It wasn’t always easy considering how he and the team played in some stretches, but his personality and makeup were reasons he won this year’s Willie Mac Award winner as the Giants’ most inspirational player.
Adames received the award, named after Giants legend Willie McCovey, before Friday night’s game at Oracle Park.
The 30-year-old Adames usually was the first to jump out of the dugout to greet a teammate who hit a home run or chase down a teammate who got a walk-off hit. He also was the guy to dump the bucket of sports drink all over a player during an on-field, postgame interview.
Adames was known to build relationships throughout the clubhouse, particularly with Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers, and his play after his rough start comforted fans into believing he’s the right long-term fit at shortstop.
Subscribe to The Dime
News, gossip, and inside-the-locker-room access for Bay Area sports fans, every Friday and Monday.
“What you see is what you get,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s the same guy every day. He loves playing baseball. Even now, he doesn’t want days off. He wants to keep playing. So it’s enthusiasm, it’s support for his teammates, it’s energetic, it’s every day, almost as advertised, from what I’d heard before. And now you look up and see the numbers, too, the numbers are there after getting off to a slow start, which can be difficult in a new place. So I’m very impressed with Willy Adames.”
In the first year of a seven-year, $182 million contract, Adames started slowly but found his groove enough to collect 28 homers and 84 RBI entering the season’s final series against the Rockies. His OPS was below .600 as late as June 10, but it improved to its current .733, closer in line with his .761 career average.
Friday, Adames hit a homer in his first at-bat, his 29th, one shy of becoming the first Giants with 30 since Barry Bonds in 2004.
For the second straight year, a player claimed the award in his first year as a Giant. Chapman was last year’s winner. Other recent winners were Mike Yastrzemski (2020), LaMonte Wade Jr. (2021), Wilmer Flores (2022) and Thairo Estrada (2023).
McCovey’s widow, Estela, and daughter, Allison, presented the award, and several former Willie Mac Award winners joined the presentation including Chris Speier, Marvin Benard, Dave Dravecky, Larry Herndon, Mike Felder, J.T. Snow, Nick Hundley and Mark Gardner. Award-winners currently in the organization — Mike Krukow, Buster Posey, Flores and Chapman — also joined the celebrations.
Players, coaches, trainers and clubbies voted for the award, and fans played a role, too.