Cubs are unlikely to recall fan favorite in wake of Miguel Amaya injury

At this point, it feels as though the Chicago Cubs players are drawing straws before the game and deciding which one of them will miss some time due to an oblique strain. On Saturday, it was Miguel Amaya’s turn to draw the short straw. However, with the young  catcher headed to the IL, fans shouldn’t expect to see Moises Ballesteros come up in his place.

While nothing has been made official yet, rumblings around the Cubs are that the man who will get the call will instead be someone fans haven’t yet met. That was seemingly confirmed by the lineup decisions made by the Iowa Cubs not long after the big club concluded its own game, a 6-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday afternoon.

Miguel Amaya is hurt, and the Cubs are passing on the exciting choice

Most around the Chicago Cubs seem to think the man getting the call will be veteran catcher Reese McGuire, rather than young phenom in Ballesteros.

The biggest hint at the move came when Tommy Birch announced that McGuire was not in the lineup for Iowa, while Ballesteros is playing DH on Saturday night. If McGuire is getting the call, then the timing certainly works out as he was re-signed by the organization and reassigned to the Iowa Cubs just a few days ago.

If the call is McGuire, it means the Cubs will have a veteran backup backstop with seven years of major league experience with the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox. He was signed by Chicago this past winter in part because the catching position at Triple-A is simply not that deep.

So far this year, he has provided some pop for Iowa, posting a .280/.360/.467 slash line with three home runs and 19 RBI in 22 appearances.

For those asking “why not Ballesteros” the answer is fairly obvious. Still just 21 years old, the young slugger has quite a bit of work to do on his defense as a catcher. When he was called up by the Chicago Cubs earlier this spring, it was quite obvious one reason they were comfortable doing that is because they already had two healthy catchers on the roster. He only played DH in his short time in the Bigs.