Cubs Catching Disaster: Inside The Numbers Of Their Struggles
One of the biggest concerns for the Chicago Cubs throughout the 2024 season has been their catching. Going into the year, the Cubs planned to have a duo behind the plate of Yan Gome and Miguel Amaya after a very successful tandem in 2023. To this point, that plan has failed and has seemingly blown up in the Cubs’ faces.
Early last week, the Cubs designated Yan Gomes for assignment and picked up veteran catcher Tomás Nido in return. So now, going forward, it feels as if the Cubs plan to go with Amaya and Nido as their catching duo unless they make an unexpected call-up or trade for a different catcher.
You really cannot make up for how bad the Cubs’ catching has been throughout the season. Amaya has spent the majority of his time behind the plate, and he is struggling mightily, not just offensively but defensively as well.
At the plate, Amaya currently has a slash line of .191/.253/.518 with only two home runs and 14 RBIs. A slash line like that could be somewhat acceptable for a catcher, but he’s not driving in any runs and essentially never getting on base.
What caught my eye most recently was a clip from Talkin’ Baseball, where Jomboy of Jomboy Media broke down just how abysmal Amaya has been behind the plate.
To make matters worse, Amaya has only caught ONE runner stealing this entire season. Teams have taken notice of this and are not afraid to run on Amaya.
Combining his horrible bat and mediocre defense, Amaya has become a black hole in this Cubs team that already has too many of them. Going forward, Nido is not going to make things much better either. He’s a less-than-average career catcher and is only a slight improvement on Gomes.
What’s The Plan Going Forward?
The Cubs need to address their catching as soon as they possibly can. As I mentioned earlier, things aren’t get much better unless they make a trade for a catcher (as rumored previously this month) or make an unexpected call-up from the minor leagues.
The Cubs do not seem like they should be in a position to trade for a catcher. They are currently 10 games out of first place and last in the NL Central. The answer for improvements will likely come internally.
The answer would seem to be catching prospect Moises Ballesteros. Ballesteros has been flying up the Cubs minor league rankings as of late and has even made the jump to Triple-A. The 20-year-old catcher has been raking in the minor leagues all year long and has had a seamless transition to Triple-A.
Nonetheless, it really cannot get much worse than it is right now, and Jed Hoyer needs to take a deep look immediately at making a change.