The Cubs’ catcher is featured in this edition of our series.
Miguel Amaya is currently the Cubs’ No. 1 catcher. It took him a while to get there. The soon-to-be 26-year-old backstop slashed ,232/.299/.357 in 117 games in 2024, with eight home runs and 47 RBI. His OPS was .645.
He could use some improvement offensively. We have him following PCA but he could just as easily hit ninth. I just like Amaya hitting behind PCA, where he can benefit from that bat and Shaw can benefit from Happ following him. Either way could work.
He’s a decent defensive catcher, though he doesn’t get much help from Cubs starters, who have slow deliveries for the most part, and teams steal a lot of bases on him (78 — fourth. He accumulated 1.9 bWAR (0.7 fWAR) in 2024. The consensus has him at something like 1.3 bWAR for 2025, with eight homers and around 40 RBI. I think he’ll beat that. His BB% dropped precipitously in 2024, and he’ll have to get that back to a more reasonable number. However, he also dropped from 25.6 K% to 17.1, which is very good work. A 2 WAR season should be within his grasp, especially if he continues his stellar late-season play.
One could see him hitting around .240/.320/.400. He has some power but doesn’t swing for the fences much. I think he’ll hit 10+ long balls and drive in more like 50 runs. Matt Shaw behind him should help him see some better pitches, especially if Shaw gets off to a good start. The 16.2% caught stealing has to improve, and should — Amaya has a good arm and quick delivery.
He hit a grand slam late in the season [VIDEO].
He’s much better at defense than Willson Contreras was, but doesn’t have that kind of bat. Amaya is going to start around a hundred games, and Carson Kelly, his backup, will start the rest, presumably.
He’s an okay catcher, nothing spectacular but serviceable. Kelly is a good man to have around, just in case. He started for the Diamondbacks and had a couple of decent power years, but his lifetime slash of .224/.307/.373 doesn’t promise a lot.
Amaya is a little better than that, but he took a long while to get to the Majors and his future is probably as a backup to a really good catcher, should the Cubs manage to develop or sign one. I don’t think he’s a keeper as a starter, but he’ll do for now.