Miguel Antonio Amaya (born March 9, 1999) is a Panamanian

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Career

Amaya signed with the

as an international free agent in July 2015. He made his professional debut in 2016 with the

Dominican Summer League Cubs The Dominican Summer League Cubs or DSL Cubs are a rookie league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs based in the Dominican Republic. They play in the Boca Chica North Division of the Dominican Summer League. History The team began in 1991 with a join ...

where he batted .245 with one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 22

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

(RBIs) in 58 games. Amaya played 2017 with the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays their ...

where he slashed .228/.266/.338 with three home runs and 26 RBIs in 58 games, and spent 2018 with the

South Bend Cubs The South Bend Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in South Bend, Indiana, and play their home games at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium. The team was or ...

, earning

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

All-Star honors and slashing .256/.349/.403 with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs in 116 games. He was selected to play in that year's

All-Star Futures Game The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball (MLB) in conjunction with the mid-summer MLB All-Star Game. A team of American League-affiliated prospects competes against a team of National League ...

. In 2019, Amaya played for the

Myrtle Beach Pelicans The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are a Minor League Baseball team in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the Single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Pelicans compete in the Carolina League. Home games are played at TicketReturn.com Field, which open ...

, batting .235/.351/.402 with 11 home runs and 57 RBIs over 99 games. He was also selected to the All-Star Futures Game for the second consecutive year. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fill ...

for the

Mesa Solar Sox The Mesa Solar Sox are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Mesa, Arizona, at Sloan Park, which is also the spring training facility of the Chicago Cubs. The team was established ...

following the season. Following the 2019 season, the Cubs added Amaya to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He underwent

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, colloquially known as Tommy John surgery (TJS), is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's bo ...

during the 2021–22 offseason. The Cubs optioned Amaya to the Double-A

Tennessee Smokies The Tennessee Smokies are a Minor League Baseball team based in Kodak, Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville. The team, which plays in the Southern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They play at Smokies Stadium, directly off Int ...

to begin the 2023 season. In 13 games for Tennessee, he hit .273/.411/.659 with four home runs and eight RBIs. On May 2, 2023, the Cubs promoted Amaya to the major leagues for the first time.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amaya, Miguel 1999 births Living people Arizona Complex League Cubs players Chicago Cubs players Criollos de Caguas players Dominican Summer League Cubs players Eugene Emeralds players Iowa Cubs players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente catchers Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from Panama Mesa Solar Sox players Myrtle Beach Pelicans players Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Panamanian expatriate baseball players in Puerto Rico Panamanian expatriate baseball players in the United States People from Chitré South Bend Cubs players Tennessee Smokies players