NEWSLETTER
It hadn’t really been on my radar that the Cubs would bring Miguel Amaya back so quickly after sending him down to Triple-A, which was effectively a promotion for him. I would have thought the Cubs would want Amaya to get a whole lot more experience against upper level pitching and RECEIVING upper level pitching, even while knowing that the plan would be for him to be up for good no later than the start of the 2024 season.
But the flip side to all that is the fact that Amaya raked in that first taste of Triple-A, and so long as he gets enough time behind the plate for development purposes, there is little reason to keep one of the Cubs’ best bats at Triple-A. Not at this moment in the season, and no when the guy will be out of minor league options this year anyway. You might as well see if the bat can help you now, and if the development can continue in any case.
Amaya, of course, rewarded that thinking with a huge game yesterday, including his first big league home run.
The sample is so small (21 PAs) that Amaya swung from way below average results before yesterday’s big game to way above average results now (.375/.450/.563/175 wRC+). I take almost nothing away from that, at least when compared to how he’s looked at the plate. He’s just looked like a guy who belongs. The struggles and adjustments will have to come, of course. They always do. But there’s definitely no sense of him being overmatched, despite so little experience the last few years (and almost none above Double-A).
Here’s how David Ross discussed the decision to bring Amaya back up (Sun-Times): ‘‘He proved that he was able to handle the opportunities he was given and showed some really good at-bats, handled the pitching staff really well,’’ Ross said. ‘‘So just giving him an opportunity to come in, continue to get big-league seasoning, be around an environment with a lot of winners here and just continue to have his career grow and help us win ballgames.’’
Hopefully Amaya can continue to check both of those boxes: development and winning.
When the time comes that the Cubs need another pitcher (Amaya was called up to replace Justin Steele, whose rotation spot will be taken by Hayden Wesneski, but which means the bullpen is short an arm), we’ll see if Amaya heads back down to Iowa. I think it’s possible the Cubs will have decided by then that they need a longer look at the bat, which can contribute behind the plate and at DH. They could option out Edwin Rios instead of Amaya at that time (I don’t think they’re going to be close to ready to cut bait on Tucker Barnhart). We’ll see, possibly sometime this week.
