Giants Superstar Has One Huge Problem Holding Him Back from Being Elite

The San Francisco Giants made a big-time acquisition this past offseason, and while he has been solid, one part of his game is holding him back.

May 6, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman Jon Berti (5) is caught stealing second base by San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames (2) during the fifth inning at Wrigley Field. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants are off to an exceptional start in 2025, posting a 23-14 record and sitting just outside National League West division lead. This is an enormously competitive division, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres clogging up the top with extremely high-end rosters.

One of the most impressive parts about the Giants has been their ability to produce on both sides of the ball, as both their pitching and hitting has been outstanding. This has been largely due to a mix of development from their own players, as well as improvements via free agency that happened last offseason.

Their largest signing last winter was shortstop Willy Adames, who signed a seven-year, $182-million deal that will keep him in San Francisco through 2031, when he will be 35 years old. Early on this season he has shown flashes of success, but overall has been hit or miss in terms of consistency.

Through 37 games he slashed .222/.305/.347 with 22 runs, 19 RBI, four home runs, and 39 strikeouts to 17 walks. This offensive production is not spectacular, but it is solid enough to not become a problem, especially considering he has been making a decent amount of hard contact and has just found some bad luck.

What is holding Willy Adames back from being elite?

While Adames has not found his stride hitting yet, it has not been detrimental to the team. His biggest flaw has been his defense, specifically when it comes to defensive runs saved and outs above average.

Thomas Nestico, a baseball statistics analyst, recently posted the defensive runs saved leaders at each position, as well as the players at the bottom of each position. Adames was the worst shortstop with minus six defensive runs saved. Additionally, when looking at the list of the worst players all around in DRS, regardless of position, he is tied for fourth worst.

This is also displayed by outs above average, calculated by Baseball Savant, in which he is among the first percentile of players, with negative five OAA. This calculates how many plays he makes on average compared to the middle-of-the-road MLB player. According to the metric, he has made five fewer than the average player.

When looking at his infield defense chart, there is no one spot where he is distinctly worse than the others. However, the trend is that the closer he gets to second base or the outfield, the more prone he is to difficulty.

While it is still a small sample size, and something that will no doubt be worked on in the coming weeks and months, it is most definitely one of the weaker parts of his game right now, and something that needs attention.