St. Louis Cardinals Minor leagues The
St. Louis Cardinals drafted Matt Adams in the 23rd round of the
2009 Major League Baseball draft. At each level he played in the
minor leagues, Adams displayed prodigious hitting ability. His first full-season assignment came in 2010 with the
Quad Cities River Bandits of the
Single–A Midwest League. In 121 games, he batted .310 with 71
runs scored, 44
doubles, 22
home runs (HR), and 88
runs batted in (RBI). His .541 slugging percentage (SLG) led all Cardinals minor leaguers. In 2011, Adams was named the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Year and the
Texas League Most Valuable Player (MVP) after hitting .300, a .357
on-base percentage (OBP) and .566 SLG with 32 HR and 101 RBI in 115 games. He set club records in home runs and RBI, including eclipsing the mark of 29 HR
Colby Rasmus set in 2007. After the season, Adams played in the
Arizona Fall League (AFL), and he was selected to represent the Cardinals in the AFL Rising Stars Game.
Major leagues 2012 Prior to the 2012 season,
Baseball America considered him the ninth best prospect in the Cardinals organization. On May 20, 2012, the Cardinals called Adams up after placing
Lance Berkman on the
disabled list (DL). He went 2-for-4 in his major league debut. He hit his first major league home run six days later. Adams played in 27 games with the Cardinals where he hit .244 with 13 RBI and two home runs before returning to Memphis. Splitting time between the
Memphis Redbirds of the
Triple–A Pacific Coast League and the Cardinals, he continued to show consistent power and batting average in the minor leagues. At Memphis, Adams hit 18 home runs with 50 RBI as he batted .329 with a .624 slugging percentage.
2013 Adams led the Cardinals in 2013 spring training with 17 RBI. Adams started off the regular season on the St. Louis Cardinals roster as a bench player, backing up first baseman
Allen Craig. He caught the attention of the fans and media early on when in his first ten plate appearances he hit three home runs, two doubles, three singles, and a walk. For a significant part of April, his batting average hovered between .640 and .700. As the season progressed, teams began to notice his
pull-hitting tendencies and often employed an extreme
infield shift on him that left one or no fielders on the left side of the
second base bag. He also had difficulty hitting
off-speed pitches from left-handed
pitchers. Because he often grounded out to the right side of the bag, his batting average began to precipitously decline. In June, he batted just .179 and .205 in August. At the conclusion of his rookie season, Adams finished with a .284 batting average and .503 SLG. He connected for 17 HR in 296 AB for a ratio of one home run every 17.41 at bats. That represented the third-best figure for rookies in franchise history. His home run to fly ball ratio was 21.8%, ranking 11th in the major leagues for all players with at least 300 PA. Regular
right fielder Carlos Beltrán became a
free agent after the season. Craig shifted to right field to replace him, clearing a way for Adams to assume first base regularly.
2014 During a game against the
Cincinnati Reds on April 3, 2014 in
Cincinnati, Adams was attempting to catch a
Chris Heisey pop-up that sailed into the shallow part of the seats. The infield tarp was in Adams' run path. As he leaned over the tarp to catch the ball, it was falling toward the second row of seats, and a fan named Chris Smith caught the ball with his own glove just above Adams' outstretch glove. Adams shifted his momentum to stand back up behind the tarp, and planted his glove on Smith's chest, pushing himself backward with a moderate shove. Smith, who had been recovering from knee surgery, gestured an obscenity with his hand toward him. During post-game interviews, Adams stated that he did not realize he had shoved Smith, but that he was preventing himself from falling into the stands. Opponents escalated the rate of infield shifting the employed against Adams in 2014, as it was already a league-wide trend. To foil the shift, he began to hit the ball more to left field (also a technique known as "taking the pitch the other way") from the outset of the season. Despite the drop-off in the power numbers, he continued to hit well against the shift. As of June 10, he was batting .390 (16 for 41) on ground balls and line drives against the shift with three home runs for the year. He also did it without successfully
bunting for a base hit. The team placed Adams on the DL for the second time in his MLB career from May–June. After his return, he homered in the first three games. His first multi-homer game of the season came against the
Colorado Rockies on June 23 at
Coors Field with two home runs and six RBI in an 8–0 victory. This was Adams' third MLB multi-home run game and first the six-RBI game for the Cardinals since
David Freese did it June 7,
2012 against the
Houston Astros. In a July 7 contest against the
Pittsburgh Pirates, Adams hit the first
walk-off home run in the regular season by a Cardinals batter since
Skip Schumaker did so against the
Kansas City Royals in
2011. In Game 4 of the 2014
NLDS, Adams erased the
Los Angeles Dodgers' 2–0 lead in the 7th inning with a three-run homer off ace
Clayton Kershaw. The home run accounted for the winning runs in the Cardinals' 3–2 victory, helping to secure their fourth straight
NLCS appearance.
2015–2017 On May 27, 2015, the Cardinals placed Adams on the DL with a torn quadriceps muscle, and he was initially supposed to miss the remainder of the season. The Cardinals reactivated him on September 9. As an
arbitration-eligible player prior to the
2016 season, Adams and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year, $1.65 million contract. He continued his success in foiling the shift through May 2016 by a slight modification to his swing, and as a result, successfully gaining hits to each of the three outfield zones over 30 percent of the time. He had hit .354, three home runs, 14 RBI and .604 SLG through the first 25 days of that month. On July 22, 2016, while playing the
Dodgers, Adams hit a home run in the 16th inning for walk-off, 4−3, win. It was the second time in his career he had hit a walk-off home run in the 16th inning.
Atlanta Braves On May 20, 2017, the Cardinals traded Adams and cash considerations to the
Atlanta Braves in exchange for minor league infielder
Juan Yepez.
Washington Nationals Adams signed a one-year contract with the
Washington Nationals on December 22, 2017. On May 7, 2018, he homered twice versus the
San Diego Padres, giving him his sixth and seventh in seven games, along with 13 RBI. He had hit 10 home runs through that point in the season. Before he was traded, with the Nationals in 2018 he batted .257/.332/.510 with 18 home runs and 48 RBIs.
St. Louis Cardinals (second stint) On August 21, 2018, Adams was traded to the
St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for cash considerations. With the Cardinals in 2018, he batted .158/.200/.333 in 57 at bats. Between the two teams in 2018, he batted .239/.309/.477 with 21 home runs and 57 RBIs in 306 at bats. In 2019 he batted .226/.276/.465 with 20 home runs and 56 RBIs as the Nationals went on to win the 2019 World Series. The Nationals did not exercise a mutual option to bring Adams back for the
2020 season.
Atlanta Braves (second stint) On January 31, 2020, Adams signed a minor league contract with the
New York Mets. He elected to become a free agent on July 18. On July 20, 2020, Adams signed a minor league contract with the
Atlanta Braves organization. He was informed that he made the Braves' Opening Day roster on July 23. In 16 games for Atlanta, Adams batted .184/.216/.347 with two home runs and nine RBI. He was designated for assignment by the Braves on August 30, and released by the organization on September 3.
Colorado Rockies On March 28, 2021, Adams signed a minor league contract with the
Colorado Rockies organization. He began the year with the Triple–A
Albuquerque Isotopes. On April 29, Adams was selected to the active roster. Adams hit .167/.250/.194 in 22 games for the Rockies before he was released on July 27.
Kansas City Monarchs On April 21, 2022, Adams signed with the
Kansas City Monarchs of the
American Association of Professional Baseball. Adams played in 80 games for the Monarchs, slashing .248/.327/.554 with 27 home runs and 85 RBI. He was named an All-Star for the team in 2022. Adams was released by the Monarchs on August 25.
Washington Nationals (third stint) On December 14, 2022, Adams signed a minor league deal with the
Washington Nationals organization. He played in 102 games for the Triple–A
Rochester Red Wings, batting .246/.296/.431 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI. Adams elected free agency following the season on November 6, 2023.
Toros de Tijuana On January 29, 2024, Adams signed with the
Toros de Tijuana of the
Mexican League. In 62 games for Tijuana, he slashed .272/.309/.491 with 12 home runs and 53 RBI. On September 15, 2024, Adams announced his retirement from baseball in an
Instagram post. He signed a one-day contract with St. Louis to retire a Cardinal. ==Coaching career==