MLB: The most valued shortstops of 2019
By Bill Felber
9. Willy Adames, Tampa Bay Rays, $5.953 million value; $563,000 salary
Adames is the kind of guy who makes the Rays competitive: He’s a bargain-basement regular who delivers front-line value.
Adames’ first full season followed a more than four-season odyssey through the Tampa system that included a couple stops in the Dominican Winter League. He won the shortstop job early this year and basically never gave it up.
His offensive fundamentals don’t look all that hot. He hit .254, had a sub-par .317 on base average and an inauspicious .737 OPS. Somehow, however, WAR saw things in Adames that those figures hid; his 4.2 rating comes in eighth among all MLB shortstops, and nicely above the 2.9 positional average. As unlikely as it seemed, that added up to $2.847 million in contributions off Adames’ bat.
That was a good thing because defensively he has work to do. Adames’ .970 fielding average only ranked 22nd, good for just $982,000. Range? Adames averaged 3.73 plays per nine innings, good for 23rd and worth $940,000.
His best attribute turned out to be showing up for work. Adames gave Tampa 1,315 innings, sixth best at his position, and valuing out at $1.184 million.
Since Adames isn’t even arbitration-eligible until 2022, any performance he delivers beyond adequate is pure gravy for the Rays.