Feb 18, 2017; Port Charlotte, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Willy Adames (27) poses for a photo during photo day at Charlotte Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Willy Adames worked his way to the top of the Tampa Bay Rays list. What could he do in 2017 for the organization?
Player Profile
The Tampa Bay Rays acquired Adames from the Detroit Tigers as part of the deal that traded their ace away in midseason 2014.
Detroit originally signed Willy Rafael (Luna) Adames from the Dominican Republic in July of 2012 for a $420K bonus.
Adames made his professional debut with the Tigers’ Dominican Summer League team. He played 60 games, hitting .245/.419/.370 with one home run, nine stolen bases, a 20.97 percent walk rate and a 16.48 percent strikeout rate.
That solid performance encouraged the Tigers to be aggressive with Adames, promoting him all the way past stateside rookie leagues to West Michigan in the full season low-A Midwest League.
His play had made such an impression that the Tampa Bay Rays insisted on Adames as part of the trade package when they traded ace David Price to the Detroit Tigers on July 31, 2014 as part of a 3-team trade. Adames and Drew Smyly went from Detroit to Tampa Bay, Price went from Tampa Bay to Detroit, Seattle traded infielder Nick Franklin to Tampa Bay, and outfielder Austin Jackson went from Detroit to Seattle.
The Tampa Bay Rays kept Adames at the same level, sending him to their Midwest League affiliate in Bowling Green to finish out the 2014 season.
Combined in 2014, the 18-year-old hit .271/.353/.429 with eight home runs and six stolen bases. He also smacked 14 triples with a 10.51 percent walk rate and 24.51 percent strikeout rate.
After that solid season and being the key piece in such a notable trade, Adames was on the prospect radar, ranking #84 by Baseball America, #77 by MLB Pipeline and #94 by Baseball Prospectus.
The Tampa Bay Rays are known for “slow roasting” their prospects, bringing them up one level at a time, and Adames was no different, moving up to high-A Charlotte in the Florida State League in 2015.
At 19, he was one of few teenagers in high-A ball the whole season, though his season was finished early due to a stress reaction in his elbow. He finished with a .258/.342/.379 line with four home runs, 10 steals, an 11.84 percent walk rate and a 26.97 percent strikeout rate.
Questions on how the elbow would affect him going forward led to some inconsistency in his ranking as he rose to #46 with BA, dropped to #81 with MLB Pipeline and rose to #54 with BP.
Adames spent 2016 with Montgomery in the AA Southern League. He showed dramatic improvement across the board, answering all questions about his elbow.
On the season, Adames hit .274/.372/.430 with 11 home runs, 13 stolen bases, a 13.03 percent walk rate and a 21.3 percent strikeout rate.
After showing improvement at the plate and in the field at an upper minor league level, Adames jumped up rankings, climbing to #10 with BA, #21 with MLB Pipeline and #21 with BP.
I had Adames #18 overall in my top 125 on Call to the Pen in January.
Next: Adames' scouting report
Scouting Report
Size/Build
Adames is listed at 6’1″ and 180 pounds, but I’d estimate that’s more like 195ish at this point. Adames has the build of the ideal guy that scouts would describe as a guy who will fill out too much to stay at shortstop.
He has a broad chest, which often portends adding natural muscle as physical maturity in early 20s sets in. He also has what is known as a “high butt”, which is just a description of where the muscle build of the upper legs sit on a player.
In other words, looking at Adames at just 21, you’d expect that by 25, he could fill out to more like 225 pounds fairly easily without adding “bad weight” just because of his body type. That does worry some scouts about his ability to stay at shortstop.
Hitting
Contact (55) – Adames is a guy who I think could be a guy to get better on the contact scale, but right now his swing has a lot of the characteristics that you find in guys like Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista.
That swing leads to some natural holes in the path of the swing, but it also leads to generating ideal plane on the ball when contact is made as he starts his bat path low and has a quick bat through the zone.
Power (60) – Adames’ bat path generates ideal contact for impact power, and as he’s grown into his body, he’s generated impressive batting practice sessions.
In 2016, he began to first generate that power into games, though he was also in a very pitching-friendly league in the Southern League, which stifled some of his home run output.
Adames has pure plus power, and his excellent instincts on the base paths should allow him to turn gap hits into extra bases frequently as well when the ball stays in the park.
Eye (60) – Many will be surprised to see a guy with a 20+ percent strikeout rate given a plus eye grade, but more of what those strikeouts are come from Adames’ approach in his swing, not his inability to recognize strikes or pitches.
I will note that Adames has consistently been a guy with double-digit walk rates. He’s shown that he does very well recognizing the strike zone and laying off pitches outside of that zone over his minor league career.
Base Running/Fielding
Speed (50) – Adames is really not a guy you will see ever steal a ton of bases due to a lack of first-step quickness, but once underway, he’s an above-average runner.
What I was impressed with in viewing Adames is his instincts and intelligence on the basepaths, especially between bases. This is why Adames has consistently had solid triples numbers, even with less than plus raw speed.
Defense (55) – Adames has soft hands and good actions on the ball as he fields it, but his biggest question in staying at short (outside of whether he would grow too big to stay at the position) was his footwork.
He’s still got work to do in making natural movements on balls, especially to his right, but his footwork once in motion is incredibly improved in the last year, such that I’m comfortable saying he could stay at the position long-term if that was the Rays’ choice.
I’m not sure that he will ever be a plus defender at short, but the work Adames has put in on his footwork is notable.
Arm (60) – I noted a report this winter that had Adames’ arm at a straight 50, and I’m just not sure how that grade fits. His raw arm strength is certainly plus, if not even a hair above.
Where I noted issues for Adames was in his accuracy and footwork in his throws from short, especially after a long move. He would frequently have his shoulders out of position as he released the ball, hurting his accuracy and the perceived power on the throw, and much of that can be traced back to his footwork to that position.
In going back to 2015 video, the issue was still there, but MUCH more prevalent, so it is obvious that he has worked hard in that aspect of his game at shortstop, which tells me it is something he could make further strides in if allowed to stay at short.
The guy that immediately stuck out when watching Adames physically was Anthony Rendon. Then I took a look at their offensive profiles, and Rendon is actually a very legit profile of what Adames could become on the offensive side of things as well.
Rendon has shown himself quite capable in the middle infield, but he was an elite third baseman coming out of Rice when he was drafted, so he’s found his way back to his natural position on the left side of the infield.
I think Adames will profile on the left side as well, whether the Rays choose to work with his defense at short and float him between short and third or purely at short.
However, a profile like Rendon’s where his 162-game averages over his career thus far have been 18 home runs and 10 stolen bases with 39 doubles while slashing .274/.345/.433 with around a 9 percent walk rate and 17 percent strikeout rate.
They’re also physically similar with Rendon listed at 6′, 190 pounds and Adames listed at 6’1″ and 180 pounds. Looking at them both, they’re likely both right around 195-200 in weight with similar builds.
Adames will likely open 2017 in AAA as the Tampa Bay Rays allow their players to advance one level at a time, but if he plays well, he could find himself making a case for a role with no real secure player blocking him up the middle in the majors.
Adames’ hard work that he put in on the defensive side of the ball from 2015 to 2016 is quite impressive, and while he has the ideal “broad chest, high butt” that would lead to thinking he’ll fill out quite a bit more, I think he could still add some weight while remaining quality at shortstop with the work he’s putting in to keep up his defensive chops.
