11:00pm: Jesse Rogers of ESPN experiences that McGuire is prone to be the Cubs’ selection to switch Amaya on the roster. A 40-man roster transfer shall be wanted so as to choose the 30-year-old’s contract.
10:16pm: The Cubs had been dealt a blow to their lineup in the present day when catcher Miguel Amaya exited their recreation towards the Reds on account of an indirect concern. As famous by MLB.com’s Mike Petraglia after the sport, the problem was described by the membership as a left indirect pressure and would require a visit to the injured checklist in response to supervisor Craig Counsell. Petraglia provides that Amaya is anticipated to endure imaging to find out the severity of the problem on Tuesday, which is able to seemingly give the membership a clearer timetable for his return.
Within the meantime, it’s secure to imagine that Amaya will miss a minimum of the following ten days and fairly presumably for much longer than that. Teammate Ian Happ required solely a minimal stint on the shelf for an indirect concern earlier this month, however it’s not unusual for extra critical strains to require weeks and even months of restoration. It’s unimaginable to know precisely how lengthy Amaya shall be shelved till outcomes from the imaging come again, however an absence of any size is irritating for the 26-year-old given his sensible begin to the season on the plate this 12 months. By his first 98 plate appearances this season, Amaya has hit .286/.320/.516 with a 131 wRC+.
The teenager’s .333 BABIP is unlikely to be sustainable and 22.4% strikeout fee that’s 5 factors greater than final 12 months stands as a trigger for concern, however even Amaya’s .313 xwOBA suggests a minimum of league common manufacturing in his future. That’s a strong final result for a younger a catcher, however determining precisely the place Amaya’s offensive future is headed shall be placed on maintain in the interim. Within the meantime, veteran Carson Kelly figures to step into a bigger function behind the plate. The 30-year-old entered the season because the backup to Amaya on paper however compelled himself into one thing of a beginning function with a sensational begin to the season.
He’s hit an unbelievable .287/.416/.574 in 125 plate appearances coming into play in the present day. That 176 wRC+ leads all catchers with a minimum of 80 plate appearances, his 9 dwelling runs thus far have already tied his whole throughout 91 video games final 12 months, and he’s even strolling (17.6%) greater than he’s hanging out (13.6%). It’s celebrity degree manufacturing from Kelly general, and whereas he can’t realistically be anticipated to maintain these numbers up eternally, he smacked one other two hits (together with his ninth homer of the 12 months) to enhance his numbers for the month of Could, which had dipped a contact under league common after a latest chilly spell.
With Kelly now extra firmly poised to take up the mantle of main catcher in Chicago, the query stays of who will function Kelly’s main backup whereas Amaya is injured. Moises Ballesteros is the one different catcher on the Cubs’ 40-man roster in the intervening time. He made his huge league debut whereas Happ was on the IL earlier this month, however served completely as a DH whereas Seiya Suzuki shifted over to proper subject to cowl for Happ. Ballesteros went 3-for-16 with two walks and a strikeout in his first five-game cup of espresso within the majors however didn’t take the sphere as a defender at any place, together with catcher. Scouts have lengthy thought-about his work behind the plate to be questionable, and whereas his .349/.410/.490 slash line at Triple-A this 12 months reveals there’s little left for Ballesteros to show offensively within the minors it stays to be seen if the Cubs could be snug with him serving as a backup catcher within the majors at this level in his improvement.
If not Ballesteros, the Cubs might want to make a 40-man roster transfer to pick the contract of a veteran within the group on a minor league deal. The most probably candidate for that function would seemingly be Reese McGuire, who has 355 video games below his belt on the huge league degree and is taken into account a top quality defender regardless of being held again considerably by a lackluster .252/.300/.364 slash line on the plate for his profession. Another choice could be 34-year-old veteran Carlos Perez, who affords even much less with the bat than McGuire however does have 5 years of MLB expertise below his belt and has a robust defensive status of his personal. Neither participant is as thrilling as Ballesteros, however for a membership that already has one of many league’s greatest offenses this 12 months it’s honest to surprise if prioritizing protection behind the plate might make sense.
