Chicago Cubs Minors: Miguel Amaya has a future in the Windy City

Chicago Cubs: Humble beginnings

Once signed, Amaya began his professional ball in the rookie league with the AZL Cubs. There, Amaya put together a somewhat respectable season, finishing with a .245/.344/.317 slash line and one home run along with twenty-two runs batted in.

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Outside of the average, Amaya did have a successful professional debut season. Amaya finished with a .341 wOBA and a 104 wRC+. He struck out a respectably low 11.2 percent of the time, as well as stole nine bases.

After one season in the rookie league, the Cubs decided to promote Amaya up to Low-A. After making the transition to Eugene last season, Amaya, unfortunately, saw a dip in his production. As Amaya finished with a slash line of .228/.266/.338 with three home runs and 26 runs batted in, his wOBA dropped all the way down to a porous .279 and saw his wRC+ decline as well to a pathetic 71.

Strong defensive work

However, his strength came from behind the plate with his glove. At just 18 years old, Amaya posted an incredible .987 fielding percentage, with a caught-stealing success rate of 41 percent, and an RF/9, which measures players range on defense by looking at his putouts and assists, at a ridiculous 10.44. To put it into perspective, the highest RF/9 in Major League Baseball at the catcher position is 8.89, so Amaya is certainly doing something right.