Photo via Brewers.com
For weeks now, the narrative around the Milwaukee Brewers has hinged on a single date: May 22. The Brewers came to Great American Ball Park that night for their game against the Reds at 22-23 on the season and with Sunday’s win they’re 17-9 since, good enough to climb back into a tie for first place in the NL Central. Perhaps not coincidentally, May 22 was also the day shortstop Willy Adames joined the roster.
Adames had been struggling with the Rays, batting just .197 with a .254 on-base and .371 slugging. Not long ago he was one of the sport’s top prospects: Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and Baseball Prospectus all included him on their top 100 lists in each of four consecutive years from 2015-18. In 2017 Baseball America had him at #10 overall. He was still just 25 years old, however, when the Rays decided to move on.
Adames’ struggles with the Rays were magnified, at least in part, due to an odd series of events in their home ballpark. Adames has one of the most pronounced home-road splits in MLB history: In 171 career games at Tropicana Field he batted .217 with a .275 on-base and .341 slugging, posting an on-base plus slugging below .560 at home in 2019, 2020 and again in 2021. For his career on the road Adames has batted .300 with a .370 on-base and .510 slugging in 172 games. Last September he started wearing non-prescription glasses during games in an effort to improve his vision at home, the latest in a series of unsuccessful attempts to improve his fortunes.
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Whatever was causing Adames’ issues at home did not follow him to Milwaukee, however, where he was a near immediate spark to the Brewers’ lineup. He reached base 17 times in his first ten games as a Brewer, batting .324 with a .410 on-base and .559 slugging. As a team, the Brewers went 8-2 in his first ten games in his new uniform and bounced back into contention.
A Matter of Timing
Sometimes perception around a player is all a matter of timing: Adames’ hot streak to start his Milwaukee tenure colored the narrative around him to the point where it was largely unnoticed when he recently endured a 2-for-22 cold streak. If the cold streak had come first, it might have changed the way fans viewed the Brewers’ newest addition. Instead, Adames continues to be credited as the spark plug that changed the atmosphere around the team. That storyline added another chapter on Saturday night when he went 4-for-5 with three doubles and a ninth inning home run, powering the Brewers’ comeback from a 5-3 deficit to a 6-5 victory.
Adames is even sometimes credited for improving the performance of the player he displaced: Luis Urias was batting .208 with a .322 on-base and .367 slugging when the Brewers acquired Adames to take over for him at shortstop. Injuries to Kolten Wong and Travis Shaw have left Urias a role to fill in other infield positions, however, and entering play Sunday he was batting .277 with a .375 on-base and .506 slugging since Adames joined the team. Urias had seven hits in four games in the Rockies series over the weekend and scored multiple runs in two of those contests.It’s almost impossible for one player to be the reason a season turns around. As good as Willy Adames has been since joining the Brewers, he’s just one of several reasons they’ve gone from sub-.500 to first place in recent weeks. It’s undeniable, however, that the turnaround started the moment he walked in the door. If the Brewers are able to complete a storybook season, then Willy Adames will be the subject of one of the key chapters.
