WASHINGTON – Tennessee Smokies manager Michael Ryan only told catcher Miguel Amaya that he needed to talk about the week’s itinerary. Amaya abandoned his grocery shopping trip and met Ryan in the Montgomery, Alabama hotel where the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate was staying this week.
There, Ryan broke the news to Amaya: He wouldn’t be catching for the Smokies on Tuesday.
Because he was joining the Cubs in Washington, D.C.
Amaya jumped up and wrapped Ryan in a hug. Then, the catcher called his parents.
It’s been a long road to the big-leagues for Amaya, who has been on the 40-man roster since November of 2019 but was sent on a detour by injuries.
Just when he was easing back into playing late last season – hitting but not yet cleared to catch after undergoing Tommy John surgery in November 2021, – he slid into second base trying to break up a double play, and his cleat stuck in the dirt. He sustained a high ankle sprain and a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Amaya said Tuesday. “It’s been a roller coaster, ups and downs, a lot of work mentally, and of course physically. But this is something that makes us strong, positive every day and faithful.”
Amaya was in the later stages of his recovery by spring training, ramping up baseball activities in major-league camp. He kicked off the season in Double-A, posting a 1.070 OPS in 13 games. So, when on Monday Yan Gomes was hit in the catcher’s helmet with a backswing and exited the game after the first inning, Amaya got the call.
In a corresponding move, the Cubs designated Ryan Borucki for assignment.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Gomes was still under evaluation. The Cubs had not ruled out putting him on the seven-day injured list, which is used for players with concussion symptoms.
“I wouldn’t say he’s feeling great,” manager David Ross said. “I don’t think he’s miserable. I think he’s just feeling OK.”
Ross, a former catcher, can speak on head injuries from personal experience, having sustained multiple concussions in his career. In 2013, he spent about two months on the injured list for concussion symptoms.
“We’re taught as athletes that if you’re able to go out there and perform, you go out there and perform,” Ross said. “And when you have a broken foot, or you had Tommy John [surgery], there is a scar on an elbow, and a cast, and a brace.
“We can’t look inside the brain and see what’s going on, and how to deal with guys getting blows to the head, and how that affects each person differently. So it is a little bit of a wild card. It’s hard for a competitor’s ego to take a step back and recognize that you’re not right.”
Catcher Tucker Barnhart echoed Ross’ push for caution.
“He’s a huge part of our team, both in the locker room on the field, in meetings,” Barnhart said of Gomes in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “But head stuff you don’t mess with. I feel very strongly about that.”
Gomes and Barnhart were part of the most recent chapter of Amaya’s development. Amaya worked alongside the veteran catchers in spring training, running through defensive drills, hitting on the field, throwing, asking questions.
“Such a good kid,” Barnhart said. “Open to wanting to get better.”
Amaya wanted to take as much as he could from observing the pair of veterans. He noted what time they arrived at the complex for early work, how they went through their pregame routines, how they led the team.
He also got to work with the big-league pitching staff. He’d come up through the minors with some of the pitchers, but spring training gave him a chance to get to know the others.
“Everybody sees how talented he is,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “But just the little things, like how quick he picked up on the PitchCom. He was one of the first guys to use it in live [batting practice sessions]. … You have conversations with him about what guys can do, and he’s already got a good feel for what guys we’re capable of.”
Now, Amaya is back in a locker room with those guys. His parents, Max and Anny, are traveling from Panama to be at the game Wednesday.
When he first called them with the news, he said it took an hour to reach them.
“When they answered, they were shocked,” Amaya said. “Then they started crying. I started crying too. It’s something we’ve been waiting for, for so long.”