Giants shortstop Willy Adames has been diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Since it’s in his non-throwing arm, the team has not yet made a determination about surgery.
The injury to Adames apparently occurred Sunday on a fairly innocuous slide into home plate (video link via MLB.com). He slid feet-first while scoring from second on a Victor Bericoto single and stumbled awkwardly while popping up, steadying himself with his left arm. The run scored, but it appears he damaged his left UCL somewhere in that sequence. San Francisco placed Adames on the injured list Monday. It’s not clear whether he’ll return this season.
“It’s something that I think he can work to rehab, see where it’s at, get it reevaluated and then go from there,” manager Tony Vitello said of Adames’ injury (via Slusser). The skipper went on to note that there’s a “wide range of possibilities” when it comes to a potential return.
Adames is finishing out the second season of a seven-year, $182MM contract. Year one of that arrangement went reasonably well. Adames hit for a low average but still popped 30 homers and was credited with strong glovework at shortstop. His .225/.318/.421 batting line was down from his Milwaukee peak but still ranked 8% better than league average after weighting for his pitcher-friendly home setting (via wRC+). Adames walked at a career-high 11.7% clip last year and posted barrel and hard-hit rates that were close to his career-high levels.
The second season of the contract, however, has been a tough one. Adames has belted 21 homers, but his walk rate has plummeted by more than four percentage points while his strikeout rate has ticked up a bit. He’s hitting .230/.289/.424, which isn’t terribly far removed from last year’s output in the batter’s box, but his baserunning and defense have gone the wrong direction. Adames went 12-for-16 in stolen bases last year but is 5-for-7 this year. Last year’s glovework at shortstop resulted in a positive grade from Statcast (5 Outs Above Average) and only a slightly below-average review from Defensive Runs Saved (-2). This year, in 350 fewer innings, he’s at -17 OAA and -5 DRS. Adames made 16 errors in 1390 innings at short last year but already has 18 in only 1046 innings this season.
While the season hasn’t gone his way overall, it bears mentioning that Adames was on the upswing. He’s improved his walk rate each month of the season, climbing north of 10% in July and north of 12% in August. Adames stumbled through one of the worst months of his career in April but carries a .246/.317/.470 batting line (117 wRC+) in just shy of 350 plate appearances dating back to mid-May.
Adames is the Giants’ second confirmed UCL injury in as many days. Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt was diagnosed with a UCL sprain/tear following an MRI yesterday and has been recommended for surgery. Given that we’re in late August, that injury could sideline him all the way into the 2028 season.
Whisenhunt and Adames aren’t the only injury concerns of note at the moment, though. Right-hander Adrian Houser exited yesterday’s game against the Reds after just 1 2/3 innings. Houser, who’s in the first season of a two-year, $22MM contract, was dropped from the rotation earlier in the summer but has returned to a starting role after a nice run in long relief. He’s pitched to a sparkling 1.44 ERA over his past 43 2/3 innings, albeit with only a 16.2% strikeout rate. Houser has induced grounders at a strong 48.1% clip in that span and posted a terrific 5.4% walk rate, but he’s also benefited from a microscopic .211 average on balls in play and stranded a colossal 92% of the baserunners he’s allowed (about 20 percentage points north of average).
Houser induced a whiff on a 94 mph, 0-1 fastball at the top of the zone to Reds infielder Matt McLain in the second inning of last night’s start. He immediately grimaced and shook out his elbow, which naturally prompted a visit from Vitello and the training staff (video link). He exited without throwing another pitch, and Vitello said postgame that Houser would undergo an MRI on Wednesday (via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area).
Whisenhunt’s injury already left the Giants thin on starters. San Francisco also has Hayden Birdsong and Trevor McDonald on the 60-day IL. Both underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this year — Birdsong at the end of spring training and McDonald just a few weeks ago. The Giants have Logan Webb and Landen Roupp locked into rotation spots, but there’s no real certainty after that. Right-hander Blade Tidwell seems likely to start regularly down the stretch, and left-handed pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson will probably get a nice long look now, too.
There’s not much else in the way of healthy rotation depth on the 40-man roster, but southpaw Joe Whitman (4.05 ERA in 102 1/3 Double-A/Triple-A innings this season) needs to be added to the 40-man roster this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft anyhow, so he could get a look. Fellow southpaw Cesar Perdomo is another option in Triple-A who’d also need to be selected to the 40-man roster.
The Giants could look for alternate or additional options on the waiver wire or in minor league free agency down the stretch. There aren’t a ton of stretched-out options on the market, though the Rockies released Michael Lorenzen a week ago and the D-backs designated old friend Zack Littell for assignment over the weekend.
