Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Willy Adames is currently in a contract year. The 28 year old was acquired in the middle of May during the 2021 season from the Tampa Bay Rays and he has been one of the leagues most prolific home run hitters at the position since. This year his offensive approach looks much different than seasons past, so let’s dive into what the statistics say about this.
Willy Adames is hitting for a higher batting average and has a higher on-base percentage.
One knock on Adames’ offense over the past few seasons has been his inability to hit for a fair batting average and get on-base. Outside of 2021, where he did both of those things well (.285 batting average with Milwaukee and .366 on-base percentage) his batting average in 2022 lowered to .238 and .217 in 2023. In regard to the on-base percentage he got on at just a .298 clip in 2022 and .310 in 2023. This year, through 138 plate appearances, his batting average is .277 and his on-base percentage is .370.
Plate discipline is one area that is much improved and Willy Adames is crushing breaking balls this year.
Taking a further look at plate discipline Willy Adames has made positive strides when it comes to chase rate. Overall he has swung outside of the zone just 23.7% of the time in 2024. In 2023 that number was 31.8% and 29.8% in 2022. His improved plate discipline is going hand in hand with him taking more walks and selecting better pitches to damage with.
Speaking of capitalizing on mistake pitches Willly Adames has been crushing breaking balls this year. In 2022 Adames hit under .200 against breaking pitches and in 2023 just .219. This year that batting average has risen to .324 and he has a .618 slugging percentage to go along with that. Continuing to lay off breaking stuff outside of the zone and punishing mistake pitches is a great recipe for success that obviously is easier said than done, but he is doing it so far this year.
What does this mean for the Milwaukee Brewers going forward?
In the short term, especially with Christian Yelich sidelined with a back injury, this is great for Milwaukee. We’ve seen in the past that when Adames is playing at his best that he is capable of carrying an offense. What he is doing now helps justify having him as the third or fourth hitter in the lineup. Hopefully he is able to keep up this level of play as the season progresses and if he does a nice payday will be in his future this off-season.
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