Chicago Cubs lack a clear succession plan if they trade Willson Contreras

Chicago Cubs: Miguel Amaya has seemingly stalled in the minors

One of the unseen consequences from last year’s pandemic was the cancellation of the entire Minor League Baseball Season. That means a lost year of development for prospects everywhere, although some were included in team’s training site workouts late in the summer.

Among those who missed out was Cubs catching prospect Miguel Amaya. He put together a monster showing in winter ball, though, slashing .261/.553/.609 in 10 games – prompting hope he could be ready to make a big jump here in 2021. Instead, he appeared in only 23 games with Double-A Tennessee before losing the rest of the year due to injury.

Amaya is still the team’s fourth-ranked prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. But after the last two years, some of the luster seems to have faded. Still just 22 years of age, he’s still young – but the Cubs can’t just hand him the catching job in Chicago to open 2022. He still probably needs another year or more of development in the higher levels of the minors, which leaves that aforementioned gap in the internal line of succession.

All this to say: if the Cubs trade Contreras this winter, they might need to make sure they get a catcher in return because there are major concerns with both the internal and external options available. The safer bet is obvious, though: extend him and make this a non-issue.