TOKYO, JAPAN – MARCH 18: Miguel Amaya #9 of the Chicago Cubs bats during a game against the Los … More
Miguel Amaya may be the Cubs’ best-kept secret. Initially viewed as a disappointment when he moved into Willson Contreras’ place behind the plate, he has very quietly developed into a trusted receiver whose bat isn’t likely to stay at the bottom of the order for long.
With the 26-year-old Amaya and 21-year-old Moises Ballesteros, who opens this season at Triple-A, the Cubs have the makings of a catching combination that could be a financial value for at least the next few seasons. That’s a nice asset in building a team that can sustain success.
Amaya is likely to hit ninth when the Cubs face Arizona in their domestic opener on Thursday night. He hit eighth in the international season opener last week, getting one of three hits off the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 4-1 loss in Tokyo. Manager Craig Counsell introduced backup Carson Kelly the next night, and Kelly’s passed ball contributed to Justin Steele allowing five runs in four innings.
Amaya knows Steele and most of the Cubs’ pitchers, having caught them in the previous two seasons, and no longer seems over overmatched at the plate. To the contrary, he is looking like he did before Tommy John surgery slowed his rapid ascent as a prospect.
Jed Hoyer, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations, always felt Amaya would bounce back to become a regular catcher. The belief in him made it easier to let Contreras leave as a free agent after 2022, when he was in line for a long-term contract. But it has taken time for Amaya to settle in as a major-league hitter.
In 124 games in 2023 and the first three months of ’24, Amaya hit .200 with a strikeout every 3.8 at-bats and a home run every 42.9 at-bats. But something clicked last summer, and he hasn’t stopped hitting.
Amaya batted .324 with five home runs and only 15 strikeouts in 112 plate appearances over July and August. He seemed confident when he came to spring training and backed that up by going 13-for-24 with two home runs and only four strikeouts.
While Amaya is not graded highly as a pitch framer, Statcast ranked him in the 98th percentile as a pitch blocker and Fangraphs assigned him a rating of +5 Defensive Runs Saved last season. He is becoming as rock steady as Ballesteros is dynamic.
It’s easy to see the right-handed-hitting Amaya and the left-handed-hitting Ballesteros in a catching platoon before too long. Ballesteros, invited to his first big-league camp, was 7-for-20 with two home runs and only three strikeouts this spring.
He’s a bat-first prodigy listed at 5-foot-8, 215 pounds. It’s long been debatable whether he can be a solid enough defender to remain at catcher but Hoyer’s international scouts gave him $1.2 million in 2021, the second-highest bonus to a catcher in that international cast.
Ballesteros looks like a natural as a hitter, reaching Triple-A before his 21st birthday. He’s hit .279 with 46 home runs and an .818 OPS in 352 career games. The question isn’t whether he will make his big-league debut this season but when, as he could fill in at first base or designated hitter if he’s not needed to catch.
The Cubs hedged their bets by giving the 30-year-old Kelly a two-year deal worth $11.5 million. He is a .225 career hitter who has graded well as a framer but was assigned -6 DRS by Fangraphs last season, which he split between Detroit and Texas.
Kelly fills a need as a veteran presence. But the emerging partnership of Amaya and Ballesteros stirs the imagination. Very quietly, the Cubs have a good thing percolating behind the dish.
