Article: Willy Adames' Hot Streak Has Kept The Crew in Contention

[Kyle Ginsbach]

Plagued by inconsistency at the plate throughout 2022, Willy Adames is finally playing like he did when he was acquired from the Rays in 2021. The Brewers aren’t in a playoff spot yet, but Adames has kept them in contention.

 

There’s a legitimate argument for Willy Adames being the face of the current Milwaukee Brewers. It’s almost absurd to consider, simply because there’s two former MVP’s and the defending Cy Young winner on the roster, and none of them are named Willy Adames. But through a hot start and unrivaled amounts of charisma, Adames might actually hold the title.

With that, the Brewer’s middle infielder was expected to put up big numbers this season, and while his season certainly hasn’t been bad, he hasn’t put up the numbers he’s shown he’s capable of. Luckily for Milwaukee, Adames has been back in-form in September.

It’s been an eventful final month in the MLB. While the Brewers have been battling for a playoff spot, players such as Aaron Judge and Albert Pujols have each chased home run milestones. Not to be lost in the conversation, Adames has rather quietly broken the Brewers single-season home run record as a shortstop. 

It hasn’t just been the longball for Adames. He’s played stellar defense all season long, and in September the bat has really come alive. Adames has posted a slash line of .310/.388/.586 in the current month, all while popping 5 home runs.

With a strong showing over the past 20 days, Adames has boosted his season numbers to very respectful totals. His 4.8 total fWAR is over double the next best Brewer’s hitter, and is the most on the team, even among pitchers. His 117 wRC+ also rank first among qualified Brewer’s batters, along with being first in wOBA as well. 

Finally, those hits have also been impactful. Per FanGraphs, Adames has overtaken Keston Hiura as the leader in Win Probability Added among Brewers hitters. 

Like mentioned earlier, Adames is likely the heart and soul of the Brewers clubhouse. Undoubtedly one of the clubhouse leaders, Adames’ voice has almost certainly helped the Brewers stay in the hunt. As if he couldn’t help the team anymore, Adames has helped the Brewers in every asset of the game as well.

View full article

[Robocaller]

His BABIP in September is .354, after being .300 in August and .277 or (much) worse in other months.  He was .349 last year (with MKE) and .325 over his entire career. So we should have had more faith when he sucked.

 

[Robocaller]

His BABIP in September is .354, after being .300 in August and .277 or (much) worse in other months.  He was .349 last year (with MKE) and .325 over his entire career. So we should have had more faith when he sucked.

 

[wiguy94]

32 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

His BABIP in September is .354, after being .300 in August and .277 or (much) worse in other months.  He was .349 last year (with MKE) and .325 over his entire career. So we should have had more faith when he sucked.

 

Well his BABIP has been better because he's hitting far more line drives instead of fly balls. High FB hitters rarely carry high BABIP numbers. His LD rate in September is 31% compared to 12-18% for pretty much the entire rest of the year. His FB rate is also the lowest of the year. A lot of these issues were cause of his swing plane being more of an uppercut this year. Obviously there was some bad luck involved but he was never going to carry a high BABIP with his batted ball distribution in previous months.

[wiguy94]

32 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

His BABIP in September is .354, after being .300 in August and .277 or (much) worse in other months.  He was .349 last year (with MKE) and .325 over his entire career. So we should have had more faith when he sucked.

 

Well his BABIP has been better because he's hitting far more line drives instead of fly balls. High FB hitters rarely carry high BABIP numbers. His LD rate in September is 31% compared to 12-18% for pretty much the entire rest of the year. His FB rate is also the lowest of the year. A lot of these issues were cause of his swing plane being more of an uppercut this year. Obviously there was some bad luck involved but he was never going to carry a high BABIP with his batted ball distribution in previous months.