Milwaukee Brewers fans will be thinking about announcer Bob Uecker all weekend, with a formal ceremony planned for the Aug. 24 game. It’s fitting that the San Francisco Giants will be in town, meaning shortstop Willy Adames will be back in Milwaukee for the first time since signing a lucrative free-agent contract in the offseason.
Adames, who has spoken fondly of Uecker and plans to unveil custom Uecker-themed cleats during the Giants series, was a central component of Milwaukee’s excellence from 2021 through 2024, making the playoffs three of the four years Adames was here.
Adames still has healthy admiration for his former club. When asked by Giants reporter Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic why Milwaukee has maintained such a high degree of success, Adames pointed to the baserunning.
“They play with their soul on the field,” Adames said. “They play hard. They dive for everything. They hustle and that’s something you can’t teach. They’re dogs, man. They play hard and aggressive. That’s how you win. You can’t play safe.”
Baggarly also wrote that Adames’ father, Romulo, formed a strong bond with Uecker, even though they don’t speak the same language.
The 2025 season has been up and down for Adames; his Giants enter Aug. 21 with a 61-66 record, more than six games shy of the nearest playoff spot. That’s despite a white-hot start to the season, when the Giants began 24-14 and grew their record to 41-29 by June 13; since then, the club has gone 20-37, a .351 winning percentage.
Adames has just a .186 batting average and .618 OPS over the past 30 days, with four homers. It’s been particularly rough over the past two weeks, during which he has gone just 4-for-41 (.098) with one longball.
For the season, he owns a .697 OPS and a .221 batting average, with 19 homers and six stolen bases, down from his .794 OPS last year, with 33 homers and 21 steals.
The Brewers haven’t matched that offensive production in a one-for-one replacement; starting shortstop Joey Ortiz has just a .615 OPS this season with seven homers and 11 steals. But Ortiz has graded out as a defensive upgrade, and the Brewers have strengthened the overall product of the team even without Adames in the middle of the order.
Adames got hot in July, with a 1.096 OPS in 24 games, but August is shaping up as his roughest month. The Brewers kindly hope that doesn’t change this weekend, though the Giants will be banking on much more over the course of the seven-year, $182 million pact Adames signed in the offseason.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Willy Adames is heading back to Milwaukee for the weekend; how has the shortstop done with the Giants?
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
