Player: Miguel Amaya
Position: Catcher
Height: 6’1 Weight: 185 Age: 21 Bats/Throws: R/R Current Level: AA Tennessee
MLB.com Rank: 4th in Cubs System (95th in all of MLB)
Signed: July 17, 2015
Hometown: Chitre, Panama
Amaya signed for $1 million back in 2015 as just a 16-year old. He has played in the last two MLB Futures Games and at age 20, was the youngest qualified batter in the Carolina league last year (High-A Myrtle Beach). He would’ve started this season at AA Tennessee had the season started yet, as it is he hasn’t played above High-A.
Scouting Grades
Amaya’s strongest skills right now are defensively. He’s made great strides behind the plate- he now has an above average arm and his receiving gets better the more games he plays. His defense didn’t go unnoticed at Spring Training by new Cubs manager David Ross, who said Amaya’s catching ability would play as a major league backup right now. That’s incredible praise for a 21-year old. Ross said “I think he’s going to be a real impact catcher in the major leagues at some point”.
Offensively, although not at the quality of his defense, Amaya’s progress has been promising; he has lowered his strikeout percentage three years in a row now (20.1%-2017, 19.0%-2018, 16.8%-2019), suggesting a better understanding and control of the strike zone even as he faces older competition. He’s also beginning to find his power, hitting double digit home runs each of the last two seasons. Amaya looks like he could eventually progress towards a 15-20 home run guy at the big league level to go along with his quality defense.
Miguel Amaya Stats
