At the time of the David Price (LHP, Red Sox) trade, Adames was a little known quantity in what seemed like a middling return on investment in return for such a prominent big league rotation piece. Now, as Adames has climbed the ladder and sits on the cusp of the big leagues as a 21-year-old, it’s obvious what the Rays saw back in 2014 when they agreed to that deal.

Adames has really grown into his frame the last couple years and stands at a very solid 200 pounds – he has always been a plus athlete with easy actions, but now has added significant strength to those actions and is beginning to show some legitimate power potential. After a very strong 2016 campaign that saw him collect 48 extra-base hits, including six triples, he has come out of the gate this year with a very similar pace. He projects to be more of a doubles-power type of guy than a big time over-the-fence contributor, but with on-base value he also brings to the table, the Rays could be looking at a legitimate three-hole hitter going forward. In 2016 he did post a 21.1% K rate, but supplemented that with a 13.1% walk rate and .372 OBP over 563 plate Double-A plate appearances. He is off the strikeout and walks pace by a few percentage points so far in 2017, but as a 21-year-old in Triple-A, taking a beat to make adjustments isn’t unreasonable. Last week versus Gwinnett, Adames showed his aggressive approach in the zone, and while he did expand a few times, he put up a couple good at-bats and showed ability to do damage to all fields. On the dirt, it is clear that the Rays have no plans to move him off of shortstop – and for good reason. He has a 60-grade arm and plus agility on balls hit to either side. He isn’t an overly-twitchy athlete and the ease of operation can sometimes fool you into thinking he isn’t that fast – but he has a good first step, the hands are plus, and he has very good body control.

Adames will have to continue to refine his approach at the plate and get more consistent with being selective in the strike zone. He has the tools to be an above-average contributor on both sides of the baseball, so even though he is at Triple-A already, it isn’t a stretch to think that Tampa will leave him there for most, if not all of the 2017 season. If he performs and continues to adjust to the competition, expect to see him opening day 2018 as the starting shortstop at the Trop.