Willy Adames was back where the San Francisco Giants needed him on July 1, starting at shortstop and batting sixth against the Colorado Rockies after missing three games with back spasms. His return came just as the Giants opened a three-game series at Coors Field.
For a club that signed Adames to a 7-year, $182 million deal in the 2025 offseason, the timing mattered. He ranks third on the Giants with 14 home runs, behind Rafael Devers at 15 and Casey Schmitt at 16, even while his.231 batting average and.275 on-base percentage have reflected a quieter year at the plate.
The Giants chose not to place him on the injured list, a sign the issue was serious enough to remove him for a stretch but not so severe that they wanted to build a longer absence around it. That is the calculation teams often make when a player exits after a late-game scare, as Adames did Sunday after striking out in the seventh inning of the 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
There is still a practical question attached to his return. Adames has also been charged with 12 defensive errors, the second-most in MLB behind Zach Neto’s 13, so every day he is back in the lineup carries value and risk at once. The Giants still owe him more than $150 million over the next five seasons, and the contract becomes harder to ignore when the shortstop is both indispensable and imperfect.
He is in his second year with the Giants, and the organization has already watched him become the first San Francisco Giants player since Barry Bonds in 2004 to hit 30 home runs in a season. That is why a brief return from back spasms is not just another roster note. It is a reminder that the Giants are trying to get full value from a player built to anchor the middle of the lineup, even if the contact has come and gone too often for comfort.
The next test is immediate: a July slate that gives the Giants seven matchups against the Colorado Rockies and additional three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels. If Adames stays in the lineup, the Giants will have a better chance to see whether the back issue was a pause or the start of something that lingers.
