Willy Adames focused on Giants delivering bounce-back season – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

SAN FRANCISCO — By just about any measure, this was one of the most memorable nights of Willy Adames’ career. 

The Giants shortstop won the Willie Mac Award before the game, and there was no hiding what that meant to him. For the first time all year, he seemed nervous as he accepted the award and gave a speech. Adames then caught ceremonial first pitches from his parents, and when all of the festivities were over, he hit a first-inning homer that got him within one of ending a notorious drought at Oracle Park. 

It was a good night for Adames, but right now, it’s hard for him to fully celebrate anything. He came to San Francisco to get the team back to October, and by that measure, this season was a failure. 

“For me, obviously (30) is a big deal, but I’m just trying to win, man,” Adames said Friday night. “I don’t really care about hitting 30. Obviously I want to do it, but it’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh, if I don’t do it …’ No, if I don’t do it this year, I’ll do it next year. Rafi is going to do it for sure, and Chappy, if they stay healthy.

“For me, it was all about winning. (Getting to 30) was not my main focus.”

Adames thought he would spend this weekend preparing for a postseason series hitting in front of Rafael Devers and Matt Chapman. Instead, the Giants are left to figure out how they can avoid another second half slide next season. Part of that will fall on Adames. 

When he signed the biggest free agent contract in franchise history, Adames was given a leadership role. That’s what he wanted, and from the start, the keys were handed to him, Chapman and Logan Webb. 

This has not been an easy stretch for any of them, and Adames said he already has given plenty of thought to what went wrong. He made reference Friday to his slow start to the season, but also to the lack of energy from the entire team at points of the second half. 

“I feel like we kind of lost that. It’s tough,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to, when the second half hits, just continue the same mentality that we had in the first half. I feel like we lost it after the All-Star Game and we need to be better next year.” 

Like Webb did on Tuesday, Adames mentioned how much talent is already on the roster and how much he trusts president of baseball operations Buster Posey to make the necessary adjustments. Posey is expected to be active, but still, there’s only so much he can do. He already committed huge portions of the future payroll by signing Adames and trading for Devers. 

A lot of this has to come from within, and Adames knows that. He said he already has started to think about what needs to change. 

“It’s something that we need to address,” he said. “The core of the guys that are here, we need to maybe have some dinners throughout the offseason and figure out a way that we can keep the clubhouse together and (have) the same energy throughout the year. We need to figure out something to keep that energy that we had in the first half this year. Whatever it takes for next year, we’ve got to do it.”

The offseason work might be relatively simple. Most of the team’s leaders have homes in the Phoenix area, and the majority of the young players plan to either move there or arrive in January for early workouts. 

There will be time to build cohesion before pitchers and catchers report, and to figure out how to be better on and off the field in 2026. Until then, all the Giants can do is try to win out and leave with some positive vibes. 

Adames figures to get about nine or 10 more chances this weekend to hit No. 30, and while it’s not front of mind, it certainly would be a nice end-of-season reward for a fan base that has shown up this year. On Friday, with the historically-bad Colorado Rockies in town, the Giants sold out Oracle Park. The crowd was lively throughout a 6-3 win, and in Adames final four plate appearances there was plenty of anticipation. 

Adames thanked those fans in his speech and again after the win. He also thanked his teammates, who rewarded him for keeping his energy and smile throughout an up-and-down season that he found personally disappointing. 

There were plenty of days in the first half when Adames looked up and saw a batting average that started with a one, but whenever a teammate homered, he was the first one there to remove the helmet. After every big win, he was there with a splash of water or Powerade. Even in a lost year, that wasn’t overlooked in the clubhouse.

“Obviously getting that award is the biggest award you can win as a Giant,” Adames said. “It’s an honor. It’s truly special for me.”