The Chicago Cubs recorded their first win of the 2025 campaign late Thursday night, knocking off the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 10-6. This comes after the Cubs started the season off 0-2 after leaving Japan winless against the reigning Wold Series champs Los Angeles Dodgers last week.
Chicago's much needed late night win in the desert was fueled in large part by the least expected batter in the lineup.
Third year catcher Miguel Amaya, who has been splitting time at backstop with veteran Carson Kelly, was slotted into the nine hole to kick off the four game set. Usually reserved for the worst hitter in the lineup, most pitchers seldom have to worry about who is hitting at the bottom of the order.
That wasn't the case on Thursday however, as Amaya absolutely torched the Diamondbacks pitching staff, going two for five from the plate with two doubles. He also racked up a team leading five RBIs, which ended up accounting for half of the Cubs' offensive output.
Coming into the season, catcher was one of the biggest question marks on a roster that saw a bunch of turnover during the winter. Amaya, who finished off the 2024 season strongly, was expected to be the primary backstop for the Cubs this season with Kelly also figuring heavily into the equation.
The tandem actually split starts in the aforementioned Tokyo Series against the Dodgers, with Amaya starting the first matchup, and Kelly taking the reigns in the second. The assumption moving forward would be that the two would continue to split starts until one separated himself from the other.
If Amaya is able to maintain this level of production at the bottom Chicago's lineup though, it will be very difficult for skipper Craig Counsell to keep the 26-year-old Dominican native off the field for long.
That's not to say that this one performance is indicative of what we should expect over the course of the entire season, but it does provide some much needed optimism for a position that many considered to be the weakest link in the lineup.
