SF Giants infielder Wilmer Flores wins 2022 Willie Mac Award

The SF Giants awarded veteran infielder Wilmer Flores with the 2022 Willie Mac Award in a ceremony prior to their game on Friday.

Marc Delucchi | Sep 30, 2022

SF Giants infielder Wilmer Flores wins 2022 Willie Mac Award /

In this story:

San Francisco Giants

The SF Giants awarded veteran infielder Wilmer Flores with the 2022 Willie Mac Award in a ceremony prior to their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday. 14 previous winners were in attendance, including current players Brandon Crawford, LaMonte Wade Jr., Mike Yastrzemski, and Dbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner.

The Willie Mac award is named after Giants legend Willie McCovey and is voted on by the team each year. The award was first given in 1980 and aims to celebrate the characteristics that a Giants player shared with McCovey. According to a team press release, "Competitive Spirit, Ability and Leadership” were engraved on the trophy to characterize the qualities exemplified by McCovey and Flores.

SF Giants infielders Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada embrace. (2022) — Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

"It's a true honor to receive the Willie Mac Award," Flores said in a short speech in front of the Oracle Park crowd after receiving the award. "I have the greatest teammates I could ever have. I appreciate the fans because you're always cheering. It doesn't matter if we're winning or losing, I always feel you behind us, and that means a lot. It makes me want to come back stronger next year."

The Giants caught Flores off guard during the ceremony, surprising him with his family in attendance. His father threw out the first pitch of the game to Wilmer.

This season, Flores has been one of the Giants most consistent position players and remained a bright spot even as the team fell out of playoff contention. He has appeared in 146 games, hitting .231/.317/.401 with 27 doubles and 19 home runs. Defensively, Flores has played all over the infield at first base, second base, and third base. He has already set single-season career-highs in games, plate appearances, at-bats, doubles, home runs, runs batted in, and walks.

Flores agreed to a two-year extension with the SF Giants to stay in San Francisco beyond this season a few weeks ago. He was set to become a free agent prior to the deal. He explained his decision to sign an extension with the team and compared young infielder Thairo Estrada to himself as a young player in an interview earlier this month.

Over his 10-year MLB career between the Mets, Diamondbacks, and Giants, Wilmer Flores has been a consistent contributor on both sides of the diamond. He has played in 1,010 games and has a .262/.314/.434 triple-slash with 126 home runs.

Published Sep 30, 2022

MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).