After Jameson Taillon and Miguel Amaya’s last game together before the All-Star break, the veteran pitcher went to the rookie catcher to say, “Dude that was impressive.”
The battery mates were, naturally, paired together Tuesday, as Taillon faced the Nationals in his first start back from the break and first since his best outing as a Cub. Amaya has pretty consistently caught Taillon and Kyle Hendricks in his two major-league stints since debuting in early May.
In New York right before the break, Taillon threw eight shutout innings to Amaya.
“He was dialed tonight,” Taillon said after that game. “I feel like just in the short two months [he’s been up here], I’ve seen him more engaged in dugout conversations, he’s coming up to me with ideas, he’s asking me really good questions between innings. What we talked about in the pregame meeting, he’s carrying over to the game.”
Taillon was impressed last week with the level of detail Amaya carried over from those meetings and the reads he was making in-game.
“For a young guy to evolve at this level and to take ownership is impressive,” Taillon said.
Amaya’s development plan took a detour in recent years because of serious injuries – Tommy John surgery and a Lisfranc fracture in his foot.
“A young man who has been through some adversity and hadn’t gotten a lot of seasoning in the minor leagues as far as reps and games,” manager David Ross said. “And he’s learning at the big league level, and he’s seemed very poised and calm within that. It’s been very impressive to see that, his growth and even some of the trips [to the mound] he’s made, the game calling, his feel for the game seems to be ahead of his time.”
Ross pointed to specific moment in New York. After Taillon hustled over to cover first base on a ground ball to first baseman Trey Mancini, Amaya took a mound visit to give Taillon extra time to reset.
“That’s a veteran move,” Ross said. “You don’t see young guys doing that.”
Amaya still has room to grow. Controlling the running game stands out, which is to be expected less than two years removed from his elbow surgery. But his strong start and commitment to improvement bodes well.
“I take pride in myself learning every single day, being around all these guys,” he said. “I’m just proud of myself to be here and help the team.”
Morel scratched
The Cubs scratched utility player Christopher Morel from the lineup Tuesday due to a sore neck. Miles Mastrobuoni replaced him at second base.
The injury stretched an already thin middle infield. With shortstop Dansby Swanson (bruised left heel) still on the injured list, Nico Hoerner has moved from second base to shortstop, and Morel has been playing second.
“If I could give Nico a day, I would,” manager Ross said before the game.
Entering Tuesday, Hoerner was batting .140 in July. And Ross has seen the benefits of giving a struggling player a break, which he’d done earlier in the year for Trey Mancini and Morel.
There was little opportunity to do that for Hoerner, with plenty of left-handed pitchers lined up to face the Cubs. There was even less wiggle room after Morel was scratched.