Miguel

Amaya

Amaya took Roki Sasaki deep in the fifth to make it an 8-4 deficit for the Cubs. The 27-year-old has done a decent job over the first month with the stick as seen in a .234/.345/.383 slash.

Kelly batted for designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros after the Mets replaced Freddy Peralta with lefty Brooks Raley in the sixth and hit a 431-foot homer on the first pitch he saw. Kelly is batting .340/.450/.520 with two homers, 10 RBI and 10 walks in 60 plate appearances. Miguel Amaya is doing a nice job, too, hitting .273/.400/.394, but he’s just not gaining any ground in the battle for playing time.

Amaya finally broke a scoreless tie with a run-scoring single off of Connor Brogdon in the eighth inning that plated Dylan Carlson. That was all the offense the Cubs would require in this one. He’s off to a sizzling start at the plate this season, slashing .417/.500/.750 with a homer and four RBI in 14 plate appearances.

Amaya has started to see some time at DH against lefties, which is a good sign for how the Cubs feel about his bat. The bad news is that he’s hit ninth in every game he’s appeared in this year. Amaya, off to a .375/.444/.750 start with a homer in his first nine plate appearances, probably deserves to cut into Carson Kelly’s playing time more than he did last year. We’re skeptical it actually happens. Kelly is batting cleanup against LHP Joey Cantillo.

Amaya hit ninth today after Carson Kelly batted sixth in the opener, which demonstrates how the Cubs currently feel about the offensive abilities of their two catchers. Still, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Amaya outhits Kelly this season. Kelly’s bested a .700 OPS in just three of his seven relatively full seasons, and Amaya actually came in at .281/.314/.500 in the 28 games he was able to take part in last year.

With a .318/.400/.591 line, Amaya has had a nice spring, but he still hasn’t made up any ground on Carson Kelly, who has come in at .364/.417/.727 to date. Kelly figures to get the majority of the playing time behind the plate for Cubs, though both probably rank among MLB’s top 30 catchers at this point.

Amaya will officially head to the injured list after spraining his ankle and being carted off the field Wednesday. The 26-year-old will be out for at least two weeks, and it’s plausible the injury will keep him from playing until September. Carson Kelly and Reese McGuire will handle backstop duties with Amaya unavailable.

Amaya was carted off after stepping awkwardly on first base tonight. The Cubs kept Reese McGuire on the roster after activating Amaya on Tuesday, so he’ll be Carson Kelly’s backup. The Cubs could call up Nicky Lopez for a utility role or maybe summon Moisés Ballesteros if they’re OK with him playing a minor role.

Amaya extended his last stride to try to beat out an infield grounder and landed on the corner of the bag awkwardly, leading to what seemed to be a pretty bad injury; he had to be carted off afterwards. It was Amaya’s first game back in the lineup after he returned from a strained oblique on Tuesday.

Amaya, returning from an oblique strain, went 6-for-27 with no extra-base hits in nine games for Triple-A Iowa. Although he was very good before getting hurt, batting .280/.313/.505 in 27 games, he’ll likely see less time than Carson Kelly behind the plate for the Cubs. The team is also keeping Reese McGuire; he’d certainly be claimed on waivers if the team tried to demote him, and the Cubs want to keep him in case Amaya or Kelly goes down.