San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames grew up idolizing another shortstop, New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter. Adames and Jeter had a chance to meet in 2023 when Adames played for the Milwaukee Brewers, and he took time to reflect on the moment and what it means to wear Jeter's No. 2 in a recent interview with MLB Network.

“It’s a dream for me just to have the No. 2 and obviously when I got to meet him it was just a dream come true for me,” Adames said. “Now that I’m wearing No. 2, I feel like that’s something that I always wanted to do and now that I’m able to do it I’m just trying to represent that number at the highest level.”

Adames added that he wants to be remembered the same way Jeter is — even if he never quite reaches the level of a nearly unanimous Hall of Famer.

“He represented the best and I just want to be remembered as close to how people remember him,” Adames said. “I know I’m not gonna get there but I wanna be as close as I can to being remembered as people remember him.”

Willy Adames is struggling in his first season with the Giants

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Adames came to San Francisco in the offseason via free agency after spending the last four years with the Brewers. While with Milwaukee, Adames averaged better than 26 home runs per season and hit for a .780 OPS.

As the Giants saw it, that made the 29-year-old worth seven years and a whopping $182 million.

Only 36 games into his Giants tenure, Adames has not lived up to the billing so far. He's hitting only .223 with four home runs and an on-base percentage of .304. It's worth noting that April has historically been Adames' worst month; he's a career .221 April hitter and has hit fewer home runs in the season's opening month than any other.

Adames has also shown some signs of life lately. He went 3-5 with two home runs in the Giants' 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday and is hitting .316 so far in May.