Miguel Amaya

Miguel Amaya

25-Year-Old CatcherC
Chicago Cubs
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Amaya made his MLB debut in 2023, appearing in 53 games for the Cubs. The catcher batted .214 with a .688 OPS, five home runs and 18 RBI. Amaya struck out nearly 26% of the time, which isn't too surprising for a young player getting his feet wet in the majors. The 24-year-old's strikeout rate wasn't much lower during his time in the minors, however, so that part of his game may stick. In the minors, Amaya offset the swings and misses by consistently walking at a high rate, which propped up his on-base percentage. He only walked 7.7% of the time during his time with the Cubs in 2023, and it remains to be seen if he'll be able to push that figure upward as he settles in at the nig-league level. Amaya figures to back up veteran Yan Gomes to begin the 2024 season, which caps the former's fantasy upside in the short term. However, the Cubs may mix things up if they fall out of contention. Amaya doesn't look like a fantasy regular quite yet, but that could happen in the near future. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#423
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Cubs in March of 2024.
Not starting Sunday
CChicago Cubs
September 29, 2024
Amaya is absent from Sunday's lineup against the Reds.
ANALYSIS
Christian Bethancourt will start behind home plate and bat seventh in the Cubs' regular-season finale. If he doesn't come off the bench Sunday, Amaya will end the 2024 regular season having slashed .232/.288/.357 with eight home runs and 47 RBI across 363 plate appearances.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
17
63
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
5
16
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+25%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+53%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+3%
OPS vs LHP
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .559 158 12 2 21 0 .197 .263 .296
Since 2022vs Right .701 361 37 11 44 0 .240 .317 .385
2024vs Left .462 94 5 1 13 0 .163 .207 .256
2024vs Right .708 269 27 7 34 0 .256 .316 .393
2023vs Left .701 64 7 1 8 0 .250 .344 .357
2023vs Right .679 92 10 4 10 0 .187 .319 .360
2022vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+2%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+11%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+36%
OPS at Home
2022
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .664 258 24 9 33 0 .226 .294 .370
Since 2022Away .651 261 25 4 32 0 .227 .306 .345
2024Home .612 182 14 5 22 0 .218 .272 .339
2024Away .678 181 18 3 25 0 .245 .303 .374
2023Home .793 76 10 4 11 0 .246 .347 .446
2023Away .585 80 7 1 7 0 .182 .313 .273
2022Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2022Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Miguel Amaya compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.37
 
BB Rate
6.3%
 
K Rate
17.1%
 
BABIP
.261
 
ISO
.125
 
AVG
.232
 
OBP
.288
 
SLG
.357
 
OPS
.644
 
wOBA
.286
 
Exit Velocity
88.4 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
29.9%
 
Barrels/PA
3.6%
 
Expected BA
.253
 
Expected SLG
.380
 
Sprint Speed
21.2 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
43.4%
 
Line Drive %
20.2%
 
Fly Ball %
36.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Miguel Amaya See More
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59 days ago
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63 days ago
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65 days ago
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2020
As a 23-year-old in 2022, Amaya made the jump to Double-A and produced solid numbers following offseason Tommy John surgery. In 28 games for Tennessee, he recorded an .864 OPS to go along with four home runs and 19 RBI. He didn't see any time at catcher after the surgery, but the fact that he was able to perform well at the plate is encouraging. In 2023, the Cubs will want to see Amaya hit like that over a longer stretch of games and likely also get back behind the plate. If all goes well, Amaya could work his way up to Triple-A, and an MLB debut at some point during the season isn't out of the question. Chicago had Willson Contreras locked in as the top catcher the past seven seasons but he entered free agency following the 2022 campaign, so the Cubs are looking for their backstop of the future. Yan Gomes and P.J. Higgins don't figure to be long-term solutions even if they see the bulk of the playing time early in 2023, so Amaya is worth keeping an eye on if he can leap past those two veterans.
As is the case with many of the best catching prospects, Amaya is a significantly better real-life prospect. His top traits are a plus arm, good leadership skills and a propensity to draw walks, none of which are overly helpful in standard roto leagues. Amaya shows off 55-grade raw power to left field in batting practice and logged a career-high .167 ISO while playing half his games in the pitcher-friendly park in Myrtle Beach. The 20-year-old backstop flopped in the Arizona Fall League (.224/.291/.286, 21.8 K% in 55 PA), but that wasn't surprising given his age and lack of upper-level experience. He probably won't ever hit for a high batting average, so power and playing time will have to drive his fantasy value in most formats. He is still working to improve as a pitch framer. If it all comes together, he should make it as a starting catcher who hits around .240 with a solid OBP and 15-20 home runs.
More Fantasy News
Returns to lineup with solid effort
CChicago Cubs
September 24, 2024
Amaya went 2-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and two runs scored in Tuesday's 10-4 win over the Phillies.
ANALYSIS
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Sitting out Monday
CChicago Cubs
September 23, 2024
Amaya is not in the lineup for Monday's contest in Philadelphia.
ANALYSIS
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Goes yard in win
CChicago Cubs
September 22, 2024
Amaya went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run and a double in Sunday's 5-0 win over the Nationals.
ANALYSIS
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Not in Friday's lineup
CChicago Cubs
September 20, 2024
Amaya is not in the lineup for Friday's contest against the Nationals.
ANALYSIS
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Tallies three hits in win
CChicago Cubs
September 16, 2024
Amaya went 3-for-4 with a triple, a run scored and two RBI in Monday's 9-2 win over the Athletics.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Succeeding with toe tap
CChicago Cubs
September 5, 2024
Amaya ditched the leg kick in his batting stance and switched to a toe tap in early July, and he has a .306/.347/.514 slash line in his past 36 games, reports Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic.
ANALYSIS
Prior to the start of that 36-game stretch that began July 7, Amaya was in the midst of a 6-for-41 slump and had a .504 OPS for the season. The strong run at the plate has his season slash line up to .233/.287/.357 through 99 contests, which is still well below his .688 OPS as a rookie in 2023. The Cubs are still likely to pursue a starting catcher during the offseason, but Amaya's offensive turnaround should give him a chance to stick around heading into 2025, even if it's in a backup capacity.
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