SAN FRANCISCO — The Willie Mac Award was created by former Giants owner Bob Lurie, who was horrified that McCovey was playing across the bay in Oakland and vowed to bring McCovey home. Three years after he returned, the Giants gave out the award for the first time, and there have been 44 winners over the past four-plus decades. 

For the first time, the Willie Mac Award winner is an actual Willy. 

Willy Adames is the 2025 winner of the award, given annually to the most inspirational Giant, as voted on by teammates, coaches, support staff and fans. Adames, a clubhouse leader through thick and thin, won in his first year with the Giants. 

The smile never left Adames’ face this season and he never stopped splashing teammates with Powerade or removing their helmets after homers, even when he was going through his own struggles. Adames was hitting under .200 through the season’s first month and had just five homers over his first 65 games as a Giant, but he kept the energy up throughout and eventually turned his own campaign around. 

“I’m truly honored to receive this Willie Mac Award. This means so much to me because it comes from my teammates, coaches and our fans,” Adames said in his speech. “I’m proud to wear this uniform for all of the years I’m going to be here.”

“I’m proud to wear this uniform.”

Willy Adames expresses his gratitude for Giants fans after winning the 2025 Willie Mac Award 🥹 pic.twitter.com/WlmwmuczeO

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 27, 2025

Adames has 28 homers entering the season’s final weekend, giving him a real shot to become the first Giant in 21 years to reach 30 in orange and black. His .733 OPS is lower than he and the Giants hoped, but is a number that would have been hard to imagine in April and May. Adames has also turned his defense around after a shaky start. 

Adames said in July that this season was difficult on him, but he tried his best to continue to be a team leader during his own down times. The energy never wavered. 

“Obviously when you’re not performing well it’s tough to keep yourself together, but that’s the one thing I can control,” Adames said in July. “I told Buster (Posey), that’s the only thing that’s never going to change: My attitude and my work ethic and my willingness to try to be better. My energy is going to be the same every day, no matter if I’m doing good or bad.

“In the beginning when we were winning a lot of games, that helped. And then when we were struggling, it was tough for me to keep myself together because we weren’t winning and I had to step up and do my thing. We have a really good group in here that was like, ‘You’re going to be alright, you’re going to be alright.’ Everybody had my back and I feel like that’s what makes teams great.”

Adames became the first shortstop to win the award since Brandon Crawford in 2016. He joined Matt Chapman and Wilmer Flores as current Giants who have won. 

Before Friday’s game, manager Bob Melvin said Adames has been “as advertised.”

“I’m very impressed with Willy,” he said. “He’s the same person every day. He’s not trying to fake it, he’s just trying to be the same person every day.”

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