Article: Just When the Brewers Needed Him Most, Willy Adames Is Back

[Matthew Trueblood]

The Brewers front office nailed their position-player additions at the trade deadline, but August was stained by an injury (that led to a deep slump) for their highest-paid player and a brutal adjustment period for their young hitters. Their star shortstop has carried them through.

Image courtesy of © Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Since August 15th, Willy Adames is batting .273/.354/.580. In 23 games and 99 plate appearances, he's driven in 25 runs. With that gaudy slugging average and 13 extra-base hits in such a short span, it's tempting to think he's just run into a few lately, but the truth is more complex and more encouraging. Adames has nine walks to go with all that power, because he's dedicated himself to tightening up his strike zone.

Adames is a naturally aggressive hitter. He does his best work when he's pulling the ball often, which means getting started soon enough to get the bat head out and attack pitches in front of home plate. Still, as you can see, there's a close relationship between his production and his ability to lay off pitches outside the zone. That's true of all hitters, but it tends to be especially true of free swingers with good power. They're the ones who get the most out of making pitchers come into the zone a bit, and out of not flailing away on unreachable sliders.

There remain some red flags here. Adames actually is swinging quite a bit at breaking balls this month, and while he's connected on a pair of home runs when pitchers made mistakes with those offerings, he's also whiffing quite a bit. Sitting on and ambushing slower stuff hasn't yet translated into laying off them as much as would ideal. Still, Adames has gotten his timing and his confidence back, and he's not mishitting or whiffing when he gets his pitch anymore. 

The place where he's done a better job of not expanding the zone, instead, is on high fastballs. Here's a heat map of his swings on fastballs at 90 miles per hour or harder through August 15.

The lower region of deep red is a good thing. Hitters should be aggressive on fastballs in that area, and it should be the place where they swing the most often at them. The upper region is a problem. Swinging at fastballs up there not only often results in a whiff, but leads to more pop-ups and lazy fly balls than hard, valuable contact. When Adames is going poorly, he chases the high fastball a lot.

Since mid-August, he's going well, and he's not chasing the high fastball.

That little bit of plate discipline is enough to make Adames deadly. Pair the clutch hits he can generate in this groove with the defense Brewers fans have come to expect from him, and he's a game-changer. The Crew are in excellent position to win the NL Central, and Adames has been the individual most responsible for keeping them there. Over the final three weeks, with Christian Yelich ailing, this will continue to be Adames's team. After a tumultuous summer in which his profound struggles seemed to throw the future relationship between player and team into question, the last month has ensured that he'll have a secure place in 2024. In the meantime, the team has a chance to end 2023 by making team history. They'll succeed or fail based on Adames's ability to sustain this gorgeously-timed hot streak.

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[Bryn Upton]

I am happy that Willy seems to be more locked in at the plate lately, .266/.349/.553 with 6HR and 25RBI in the last 30 days, but is he really the primary reason for the recent success?

Contreras and Yelich were on fire in July, the new guys picked it up in August as Yelich cooled off significantly. Mark Canha taking ABs that were going to Joey Weimer for the last month might be a bigger reason. In the last 30 days Canha is .353/.434/.541 with 4HR and 17 RBI. Carlos Santana has been an upgrade at first with 5HR and 17RBI in the last 30 days. Those pick-ups have helped the offense, taking some pressure off guys like Willy who might try to do too much in some situations. Guys are looking more relaxed, being more patient, taking a few more pitches.

Taylor looks like a major leaguer again after a horrible start. Frelick gave the team a boost when he arrived, now Turang is starting to put together better ABs. Montesario has had ups and down but has been able to put the ball in play with consistency and play above average defense basically making Anderson irrelevant. The only real knock against Montesario is power (enter Donaldson). 

Let's not forget that Burnes was NL Pitcher of the Month in July, Peralta was NL Pitcher of the Month in August, and now Woodruff has a 0.00 ERA in September.

There is a tendency to look for one guy to be the start, to be the "straw that stirs the drink," and on some teams there is that guy. But not every team has that one guy, and there is something to having a squad where everyone knows their role, knows how to contribute, and where no one feels like they have to carry too much of the load alone. During the most recent winning streak we saw basically every player take ABs like they trusted the guy behind him. They were taking pitches, putting balls in play, moving the line, and they put together several 3, 4,, and 5 run innings.

All of this is to say, it is a team effort game after game.

[Team Canada]

Welcome!

[CheezWizHed]

58 minutes ago, Bryn Upton said:

I am happy that Willy seems to be more locked in at the plate lately, .266/.349/.553 with 6HR and 25RBI in the last 30 days, but is he really the primary reason for the recent success?

Contreras and Yelich were on fire in July, the new guys picked it up in August as Yelich cooled off significantly. Mark Canha taking ABs that were going to Joey Weimer for the last month might be a bigger reason. In the last 30 days Canha is .353/.434/.541 with 4HR and 17 RBI. Carlos Santana has been an upgrade at first with 5HR and 17RBI in the last 30 days. Those pick-ups have helped the offense, taking some pressure off guys like Willy who might try to do too much in some situations. Guys are looking more relaxed, being more patient, taking a few more pitches.

Taylor looks like a major leaguer again after a horrible start. Frelick gave the team a boost when he arrived, now Turang is starting to put together better ABs. Montesario has had ups and down but has been able to put the ball in play with consistency and play above average defense basically making Anderson irrelevant. The only real knock against Montesario is power (enter Donaldson). 

Let's not forget that Burnes was NL Pitcher of the Month in July, Peralta was NL Pitcher of the Month in August, and now Woodruff has a 0.00 ERA in September.

There is a tendency to look for one guy to be the start, to be the "straw that stirs the drink," and on some teams there is that guy. But not every team has that one guy, and there is something to having a squad where everyone knows their role, knows how to contribute, and where no one feels like they have to carry too much of the load alone. During the most recent winning streak we saw basically every player take ABs like they trusted the guy behind him. They were taking pitches, putting balls in play, moving the line, and they put together several 3, 4,, and 5 run innings.

All of this is to say, it is a team effort game after game.

Great first post and welcome!

 

I think you make some obvious points about several player's contributions.  But getting Adames hot has always been one of the keys to getting our offense running.  While maybe being a touch hyperbolic  (aren't all blog writers? 😉), I think that is mainly what he is trying to say. 

Contreras has been consistently good this year. If Yelich and Adames play like like they can, along with our trade additions, we have a much better chance in the playoffs this year. 

[Brian]

If Adamas can get hot now and for the playoffs that would be awesome and Council would look like a genius. 

[BrewerFan]

23 hours ago, Bryn Upton said:

I am happy that Willy seems to be more locked in at the plate lately, .266/.349/.553 with 6HR and 25RBI in the last 30 days, but is he really the primary reason for the recent success?

Contreras and Yelich were on fire in July, the new guys picked it up in August as Yelich cooled off significantly. Mark Canha taking ABs that were going to Joey Weimer for the last month might be a bigger reason. In the last 30 days Canha is .353/.434/.541 with 4HR and 17 RBI. Carlos Santana has been an upgrade at first with 5HR and 17RBI in the last 30 days. Those pick-ups have helped the offense, taking some pressure off guys like Willy who might try to do too much in some situations. Guys are looking more relaxed, being more patient, taking a few more pitches.

Taylor looks like a major leaguer again after a horrible start. Frelick gave the team a boost when he arrived, now Turang is starting to put together better ABs. Montesario has had ups and down but has been able to put the ball in play with consistency and play above average defense basically making Anderson irrelevant. The only real knock against Montesario is power (enter Donaldson). 

Let's not forget that Burnes was NL Pitcher of the Month in July, Peralta was NL Pitcher of the Month in August, and now Woodruff has a 0.00 ERA in September.

There is a tendency to look for one guy to be the start, to be the "straw that stirs the drink," and on some teams there is that guy. But not every team has that one guy, and there is something to having a squad where everyone knows their role, knows how to contribute, and where no one feels like they have to carry too much of the load alone. During the most recent winning streak we saw basically every player take ABs like they trusted the guy behind him. They were taking pitches, putting balls in play, moving the line, and they put together several 3, 4,, and 5 run innings.

All of this is to say, it is a team effort game after game.

Yeah...I'd say Willy has actually been the "straw that stirs the drink," in the past, but you're right. This year it's definitely a collective team issue. I think it's other players taking the pressure off Willy that has helped. Just spreading the weight around has been huge.