SF Giants observations: Devers, Adames showing encouraging signs at plate

SAN FRANCISCO - The Giants’ collective ills won’t be solved if Rafael Devers starts to look like Rafael Devers. They’re still 15-23 following Friday’s 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, and their offense still ranks last in the majors in too many important categories.

That said, Devers starting to look like Devers would go a long way towards getting the offense out of the doldrums.

“When he gets going, as a team, we start rolling,” said left-hander Robbie Ray, who allowed one run over six innings with seven strikeouts to four walks on Friday. “If he’s feeling good in the box and he’s taking at-bats like that, he can carry a team.”

“He’s looking better at the plate,” said shortstop Willy Adames. “He’s the biggest force in this lineup. If he starts going, we’re going to be in a better position. I think everybody knows that. It makes me happy that he’s been feeling better at the plate. He’s getting some results and getting some homers, but I think that when he gets hot, it’s going to be on.”

San Francisco’s offensive cornerstone continued showing signs of life with another encouraging performance on Friday. He homered to dead center field, his fourth long ball of the season and his first time homering in back-to-back games this season. He also hit a 109.0 mph single as well, his second-hardest hit ball of the season, then scored on a single by Heliot Ramos.

Devers had a .537 OPS at the end of April, but that figure has slowly crept up to .625. During his eight-game hitting streak, Devers is hitting .346/.387/.654 with two homers and six RBIs. He’s still been, on the whole, a below-average hitter for the season, but this current stretch is easily the best he’s looked this season.

And perhaps Adames is slowly starting to find signs of life on offense, too.

Adames collected two hits of his own on Friday, his first multi-hit game since April 17. He also barely missed a home run in the bottom of the fourth, hitting a 359-foot fly out that faded at the warning track. On Wednesday, Adames hit a 105.8 mph lineout directly at right fielder San Diego outfielder Nick Castellanos, his second-hardest hit ball of the season.

“Everybody in here knows the guy can hit,” Vitello said. “It’s not going to go on and on and on where he doesn’t have some of those multi-hit games or whatever it might be.”

While Devers is San Francisco’s centerpiece on offense, Adames had stretches last season when he looked like one of the best shortstops in baseball. If Adames and Devers get going, so too does the Giants’ offense.

“When (we struggle) as a team, it’s more difficult than when it’s individual,” Adames said. “This is a long season and I know how I always play and how I always finish because I work hard and I do my stuff. When it’s the whole team, that’s when it’s difficult. When you’re not winning, it’s not fun.

“Obviously, I want to do better and I put in my work, but I don’t really worry about it because at the end of the day, the numbers are going to be there in September.”

One of the ways San Francisco’s offense can generate more runs (and, in turn, more wins) is by finding a way to draw more walks.

The Giants have gone three games without drawing a single walk, which has happened only five other times since the team moved to San Francisco. They’re not only last in the majors in walks (72) and on-base percentage (.284), but they’re the only team in the majors that has yet to draw at least 100 walks. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ 102 walks are the second-fewest in the majors - 30 more than the Giants.

“Me, personally, I haven’t been walking a lot,” said Adames, whose 3.9% walk rate is well below his career mark of 9.8%. “I think that goes to trying to make some stuff happen. You kind of get in a black hole. Then, it’s hard to get out of that. Like I said, I think things are going to come, especially when we start winning more games.”

San Francisco’s lack of free passes isn’t surprising considering that 49.3% of the pitches that the Giants’ hitters have seen have been in the strike zone, the highest mark in the majors. Translation: Opposing pitchers are attacking the Giants’ hitters and daring them to make contact.

Up to this point, it’s been a sound strategy. Devers, in particular, has been getting attacked in the zone early and often. Entering Friday, 50.6% of the pitches that Devers has seen this season have been in the zone, the eighth-highest mark in the majors (min. 500 pitches). Last year, that mark was 48.6%.

If Devers and Adames get going, the calculus might start to shift. Pitchers might start to back off, and the walks might start to stack.

“Pitchers have been attacking us,” Adames said. “Maybe that’s why we haven’t been getting a lot of walks. When you struggle and you go to the plate, you blink and then you’re 0-2. So, it’s hard to draw a walk when you’re 0-2 the first two pitches. Things are going to start changing.

“When we get hot, I think it’s going (to be different). If they do the same, then we’re going to do more damage. We’re going to continue to walk and hopefully we can change the momentum and start winning more games.”

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 8:14 AM.