{"id":155798,"date":"2026-02-23T16:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=155798"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:36:08","slug":"giants-star-willy-adames-reveals-what-he-appreciates-about-tony-vitello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=155798","title":{"rendered":"Giants Star Willy Adames Reveals What He Appreciates About Tony Vitello"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden bg-lightGrey\" data-lead-image=\"true\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full\" title=\"San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames.\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_364,w_8081,h_4545\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/giants_baseball_insider\/01kj0hwdn7zxpvc4g0q3.jpg\" alt=\"San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames.\" width=\"8081\" height=\"4545\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-grey font-group-tiny\" data-lead-image=\"true\">San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">Willy Adames entered last season, his first with the San Francisco Giants, with high expectations and in many ways he delivered.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">He signed a seven-year deal worth $182 million, which broke a franchise record set by Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey. By season\u2019s end, San Francisco had three players on its payroll with nine-figure contracts.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Adames slashed .225\/.318\/.421 with 30 home runs and 87 RBI. He became the first Giants player since Barry Bonds to hit 30 home runs in a season. Bonds last hit 30 or more home runs in a season in 2004.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">Rafael Devers hit 35 home runs for the season but didn\u2019t join the team until a trade in June. So, with Adames and Devers, the Giants believe they have a powerful due to build their team around for the next several years.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">Year 2 is about adjustment for Adames. He\u2019s getting used to a new manager in Tony Vitello, who replaced Bob Melvin in the offseason. Vitello has never been a part of pro baseball but was a successful coach in college. Adames seems to have bought into what the new manager is selling in spring training.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-5\"><strong>Willy Adames on Tony Vitello<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Willy Adames hopped on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/knbrmurph?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@knbrmurph<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkusBoucher?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MarkusBoucher<\/a> down in Scottsdale and spoke highly of Tony Vitello&#39;s motivating presence as well as their trip out to S. Korea to visit Jung Hoo Lee.  <\/p>\n<p>&quot;We had a fun time in Korea. That was one of the best experiences I&#39;ve had in my life.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4XMvH507qT\">pic.twitter.com\/4XMvH507qT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; KNBR (@KNBR) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KNBR\/status\/2024597760666951826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">During a radio interview with \u201cMurph and Markus\u201d on KNBR, the flagship station for Giants baseball, Adames revealed how he heard about the Vitello news and how they immediately connected.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">\u201cBuster [Posey] texted me when everything was done and then I texted Tony right and we talked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">Since then, the relationship has grown quickly. Vitello embarked on a tour to see many of his players in the offseason, which included visiting Adames in his native Dominican Republic. The effort he made to do that trip was something he appreciated. Vitello also convinced Adames to accompany him to South Korea to visit outfielder Jung Hoo Lee in the offseason, a trip he called \u201cone of the best in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">\u201cTo get to see [Lee], to get to hang out with him and get to know him better I think it was really good,\u201d Adames said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I wanted to go. Just to make him feel like, \u2018Hey, this is how we really feel about you, we care about you and we want him to be who he is, a superstar.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\">So, what has Vitello brought to the team in his first year? In a word, energy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\">\u201cHe\u2019s got a great personality,\u201d Adames said. \u201cHe likes to see the group together. He loves to work and he brings that energy every day. I think he\u2019s going to be really good for us. So far, what I\u2019ve seen, he\u2019s always pushing us, pushing the guys to be better. That\u2019s something that I think we were missing.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images Willy Adames entered last season, his first with the San Francisco Giants, with high expectations and in&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Giants Star Willy Adames Reveals What He Appreciates About Tony Vitello - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=155798\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giants Star Willy Adames Reveals What He Appreciates About Tony Vitello - 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