SCOTTSDALE -- Willy Adames' first home run at Scottsdale Stadium this spring was a towering fly ball that at first looked like it would be caught on the outfield grass. The right fielder lifted his glove before even reaching the warning track, but the ball kept carrying and carrying in the thin air and landed on the Charro Lodge deck as Adames flipped his bat toward the home dugout.
At Oracle Park, it would have been a routine fly ball, and Adames knows that's what he signed up for. In December, he became the first free-agent position player to ever take a contract of more than $150 million from the Giants, and he's just the third hitter, period, to sign a nine-figure deal with the organization. The first went to his new boss, Buster Posey, who was drafted by the Giants and would never leave, and the second to Jung Hoo Lee, a bat-control artist and line drive hitter who is an easy fit with Oracle Park's dimensions.
Adames is coming off a 32-homer, 112 RBI season and has 112 homers since the start of 2021, tied with Corey Seager for the most among MLB shortstops. He brings rare power to the position, but still, he signed up to spend his prime at a pitcher's park.
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And he has no regrets.
Asked about the ballpark on Monday's "Giants Talk" podcast, Adames smiled and pointed out that Barry Bonds spent much of his career dealing with the dimensions. So did Posey, who had the previous record contract by a Giant before Adames signed for $182 million.
"At the end of the day, it's just the mentality that you have. If you go with that mentality that I can't hit here, the ball doesn't fly and this or that, I think that will eat you up," Adames said. "I don't really care about it. If the ball goes, it goes. I'm not trying to hit homers every time. It just happens. I'm just trying to hit the ball hard and put the barrel (on the ball) every time. I don't really worry about if the ball flies here, I don't care.
"I just want to win some games and I'll do my best to help the team win. We're not going to win by hitting homers at Oracle Park. We've just got to play the right baseball."
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So far this spring, Adames has looked like the perfect fit for a team that hopes to surprise outsiders. He's hitting .361 with an OPS over 1.000 and three homers, including a loud one over the weekend that would have gone out in any park.
Adames, as expected, also has been a game-changer in the clubhouse. He has formed a quick bond with Matt Chapman, his partner on the left side of the infield, and teammates rave about the energy he has brought every morning.
The Giants are in a much better place behind closed doors than in the past two seasons, but if they are to surprise, they will need Adames to bring his usual power to the heart of the lineup. He will hit second for Bob Melvin, right between LaMonte Wade Jr. and Jung Hoo Lee. The hope is that Adames takes full advantage of having Wade, one of the game's best at reaching base, right in front of him, along with anyone else who happens to be on. Last year, Adames was the only big leaguer with double-digit three-run homers, hitting 13 of them.
Of Adames' 32 home runs overall, 18 came at American Family Field in Milwaukee, which was ranked eighth by Baseball Savant in terms of best places to hit homers. Oracle Park, of course, was last, but Adames has fared well in 16 career games in San Francisco, posting a .321/.381/.446 slash line with a pair of homers. He said he also is comfortable with the division.
"You don't play 162 games (at Oracle), the division is great to hit (in)," he said. "You go to the Dodgers' stadium, the ball flies, and you go to Petco Park and the ball flies there, and then you go to Colorado. For me, you're going to hit what you're going to hit at the end of the day."
That hasn't been the mindset of most free-agent hitters who have met with the Giants in recent years. Adames was the exception, and even if his numbers take a slight hit from all of those cold, windy nights at Third and King, the Giants know they still are going to have one of the league's best shortstops. They also have a leader who isn't afraid of the challenge, whether it's taking on Oracle's dimensions or a loaded division.
Adames has played in the postseason in three of the last four years. He signed up to spend his prime in a division that could be dominated by the Los Angeles Dodgers for the rest of the decade, but he's ready for it.
"The big part about being the underdog is nobody expects you to win, so that's kind of a motivation thing for the team," he said on Giants Talk. "Obviously the boys get fired up, like, 'Okay, let's show the world what we're made of.' I think having that mentality of 'we're going to prove everybody wrong' is a good mentality to have because that way you know you're going to go every day and handle (your) business. I think we can have some of that.
"At the end of the day, a lot of people are not expecting us to win. The guys acknowledge that and have that as motivation. I think that's a really cool spot to be in because it motivates you to work even harder and get better every day."