April 8, at Cincinnati: Stuart Fairchild leaps at the wall in right field to rob Willy Adames of a home run in the top of the sixth.
May 15, American Family Field: Michael Taylor from the Pirates makes a leaping catch at the wall to rob Adames of a another home run in the bottom of the eighth.
Tuesday, American Family Field: Cody Bellinger of the Cubs makes an even more sensational catch in center field to rob Adames of yet another homer in the seventh inning.
Wednesday afternoon in the clubhouse, Adames, shakes his head and then smiles at the ridiculousness of this unwanted triplet statistic: Robbed of three home runs, in two months, of the same season?
“I mean you gotta laugh to not cry, right?” said Adames.
Coincidentally, while he was talking, the Dodgers-Mets matinee game was playing on the TV and the national broadcast flashed the National League leaders in home runs. Marcell Ozuna, Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper rounded out the Top 3 of the leaderboard with 16, 14 and 13, respectively.
Sitting at No. 19 is Adames, with eight. If those three homers had not been Ocean 11-ed on him, Adames would have 11 home runs, and would be in a tie for sixth place.
“Ah, Jesus,” Adames looks up, smiling. “Are you forgetting about me?”
He has never had anything like this happen to him before.
“One, yeah,” said Adames. “But … three in two months?”
At 28, and one of the longest-tenured Brewers on the roster, Adames knows if this home run larceny had happened to him when he was younger, he “would probably have been freaking out.”
But now, Adames remains steadfast and strong. There’s no need to overanalyze this. And he won’t get down about it. He’s still one of the best run-producing shortstops in the majors. He’s hitting well. Instead, he’s just honest and real about it.
“I mean, it feels like I’m hitting the ball really well, just not getting the lucky one. You know what I mean?” said Adames. “I don’t necessarily get mad about it because I’m hitting the ball well, but at the same time, it’s like a sour taste. It’s so hard to hit them. If you hit it hard, you should be rewarded for it! It’s just a tough feeling.
“I’ll just try to forget about it and just try to continue to hit the ball hard. My mentality is just to continue to battle when hitting. To try to put the barrel on the ball. We can’t control the results. The only thing you can control is to try to hit the ball hard and the results are going to come. At some point, I’m gonna get rewarded.”
With 126 career home runs, it’s better for him to focus on the wins. And on Memorial Day, Adames catapulted a three-run home run to center field to beat the Cubs on Craig Counsell’s homecoming.
No need to dwell on what could have been. Adames laughs again, though. Not everyone is taking it as well as he is.
“My best friend – he texted me last night. He was like, ‘Don’t even mention it,'” said Adames, after Bellinger’s thievery. “He was like, don’t talk to me about it. I don’t want to talk about it.’
“And I was like, well, I should be the one that should be feeling like that.”
Hours later, Adames hit his ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot, to help the Brewers to a 10-6 victory over the Cubs.
Gregory Daniels is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, he explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture. Gregory enjoys staying ahead of the curve and sharing emerging trends with his readers.
