Miguel Amaya Not in I-Cubs Lineup Saturday, Could Be Promoted Again Soon

Miguel Amaya opened eyes during a brief stint with the Cubs, which was really just a reward promotion to hold things down while Yan Gomes was on the IL. As we’ve seen with other players, it was a matter of the organization wanting to test his mettle a bit before moving him from Double-A Tennessee to Triple-A Iowa. Amaya had been crushing Southern League pitching to the tune of a 181 wRC+ and, though he didn’t produce much for the Cubs, he showed flashes of big offensive potential.

That has continued at Iowa, where he’s posting a 141 wRC+ over 60 plate appearances — four more than he had at Tennessee. Amaya is not in the lineup for the I-Cubs Saturday night and Des Moines Register beat writer Tommy Birch indicated that it’s because the catcher will either be recalled or sent West as part of the taxi squad.

Miguel Amaya not in the starting lineup for the @IowaCubs tonight.

I'm told this is something you can read into with a possible callup or taxi squad move coming.

— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) June 3, 2023

We’ll have more on this as official word comes out, but Tucker Barnhart is in the lineup Saturday night against Yu Darvish and the Padres.