Willy Adames (SS, MIL) - Week 12 Waiver Wire Pickups

3 years ago by Mike Marteny

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ANALYSIS: Most of you drafted, and gave up on, Adames already this season. It's understandable. At the time of his trade to Milwaukee for relievers J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen, Adames was slashing an atrocious .197/.254/.371, by far the lowest marks of his career. He had just 28 hits in 132 at-bats with the Rays compared to 51 strikeouts. The switch flipped when the Rays finally gave up on the 25-year-old.

Adames hit the ground running in Milwaukee and hasn't slowed down yet. In 20 games with his new team, Adames is slashing .292/.370/.486 with just 19 strikeouts in 72 at bats. That's right. Adames has more hits (21) than strikeouts (19) as a Brewer. Is pitching just that much worse in the N.L. Central or is there something else at work?

A dive into the metrics suggests that Adames has been swinging a good stick all year, just with unlucky results in Tampa. His barrel percentage (12.5%), Launch angle (20.7 degrees), Sweet Spot percentage (37.5%), and hard hit percentage (36.5%) are all by far the highest marks of his career. While the 32.1% strikeout rate is still an abomination, keep in mind that it is a much more manageable 26.4% with the Brewers. The 12.5% walk rate with the Brewers would also mark a career best.

Adames hit 20 homers in his last full season in 2019, so the eight homers are not a fluke. He can be expected to come somewhere near that mark this year with a handful of steals, but what you are really getting in Adames is a guy coming into his prime that can help in average and RBI. Adames hit .278 as a 22-year-old rookie in 2018. There's reason to believe that he can get to that mark based on his Statcast profile.

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