Chicago Cubs rookie catcher Miguel Amaya will draw the start behind the plate on Friday to catch left-hander Justin Steele, and he'll bat ninth in the lineup against St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty. Yan Gomes will serve as the designated hitter and bat seventh. Amaya has essentially become the Cubs' No. 2 catcher over Tucker Barnhart, and he's hitting .271 (19-for-70) with two home runs, four doubles, 13 RBI and 10 runs scored in his first 26 big-league games over 86 plate appearances. The 24-year-old has little DFS appeal at the bottom of Chicago's order, though, and he's still only worth considering in deep two-catcher fantasy leagues.

Chicago Cubs rookie catcher Miguel Amaya (hand) is out of the starting lineup for Monday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. This is a bit concerning after Amaya was hit by a pitch in the hand during Sunday's game. It's possible the Cubs are just giving Amaya an extra day to rest. Fantasy managers should stay tuned for more news in case Amaya does end up going to the injured list. Yan Gomes will do the catching and bat eighth versus right-hander Osvaldo Bido on Monday.

Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya put together a strong performance at the plate during Sunday's game against the San Diego Padres. The 24-year-old went 3-for-3 and blasted his first career home run in the 7-1 victory. Amaya crushed a 415-foot two-run blast off right-hander Drew Carlton in the third inning to make it 7-0. He drew the start at designated hitter, while Yan Gomes did the catching. The Cubs could put Amaya there more often, assuming he keeps hitting like this. The hope is that Amaya can be the Cubs catcher of the future, but injuries have held him back. He appears healthy now, so we'll see what he can do.

The Chicago Cubs are expected to promote catcher prospect Miguel Amaya on Tuesday. Starting catcher Yan Gomes (head) left Monday's contest early and will continue to be evaluated after being hit in the head on a back swing. Amaya, 24, has been one of the Cubs top prospects in his young career, but injuries have caused him to miss significant time throughout the past few seasons. Thus far in 2023, he has been healthy and hit a respectful .273 with four homers and eight RBI over 44 at-bats for Double-A Tennessee. Gomes status is one to monitor before acting on Amaya, but he could see a good amount of action over Tucker Barnhart if Gomes lands on the injured list. For now, managers can take a wait-and-see approach with Amaya. With the right opportunity, he could be worth a flier in two-catcher leagues.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Cubs finalized a $1.5 million, one-year contract with catcher Austin Romine on Saturday. Romine can earn an additional $700,000 in performance bonuses for starts at catcher and $500,000 in roster bonuses. He would get $100,000 each for 50 starts and each additional 10 through 110. He also would get $125,000 apiece for 30, 60, 90 and 120 days on the active roster. Chicago had been looking for a backup catcher since the Cubs traded Victor Caratini to San Diego last month. Miguel Amaya is among the organization’s top prospects, but he finished his last minor league season at the Class-A level. The 32-year-old Romine hit .238 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 37 games with Detroit last year, earning $1,537,037 in prorated pay from a $4.15 million salary. He played parts of eight seasons with the New York Yankees before signing with the Tigers as a free agent. Romine had his most productive season with New York in 2018, batting .244 with a career-high 10 homers and 42 RBIs in 77 games. Chicago has Willson Contreras in place as starting catcher, but he has been mentioned in trade rumors. The Cubs are retooling under President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer, but they are hoping to stay in the mix in the NL Central after winning the division in 2020. ___ Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

CHICAGO (AP) — The Cubs finalized a $1.5 million, one-year contract with catcher Austin Romine on Saturday. Chicago had been looking for a backup catcher since the Cubs traded Victor Caratini to San Diego last month. Miguel Amaya is among the organization’s top prospects, but he finished his last minor league season at the Class-A level. The 32-year-old Romine hit .238 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 37 games with Detroit last year, earning $1,537,037 in prorated pay from a $4.15 million salary. He played parts of eight seasons with the New York Yankees before signing with the Tigers as a free agent. Romine had his most productive season with New York in 2018, batting .244 with a career-high 10 homers and 42 RBIs in 77 games. Chicago has Willson Contreras in place as starting catcher, but he has been mentioned in trade rumors. The Cubs are retooling under President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer, but they are hoping to stay in the mix in the NL Central after winning the division in 2020. ___ Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

CHICAGO (AP) — The Cubs added a veteran catcher, agreeing to a $1.5 million, one-year contract with Austin Romine, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person confirmed the agreement on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been finalized. Chicago had been looking for a backup catcher since the Cubs traded Victor Caratini to San Diego last month. Miguel Amaya is among the organization's top prospects, but he finished his last minor league season at the Class-A level. The 32-year-old Romine hit .238 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 37 games with Detroit last year, earning $1,537,037 in prorated pay from a $4.15 million salary. He played parts of eight seasons with the New York Yankees before signing with the Tigers as a free agent. Romine had his most productive season with New York in 2018, batting .244 with a career-high 10 homers and 42 RBIs in 77 games. Chicago has Willson Contreras in place as starting catcher, but he has been mentioned in trade rumors. The Cubs are retooling under President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer, but they are hoping to stay in the mix in the NL Central after winning the division in 2020. ___ Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

CHICAGO (AP) — The Cubs added a veteran catcher, agreeing to a $1.5 million, one-year contract with Austin Romine, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person confirmed the agreement on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been finalized. Chicago had been looking for a backup catcher since the Cubs traded Victor Caratini to San Diego last month. Miguel Amaya is among the organization's top prospects, but he finished his last minor league season at the Class-A level. The 32-year-old Romine hit .238 with two homers and 17 RBIs in 37 games with Detroit last year, earning $1,537,037 in prorated pay from a $4.15 million salary. He played parts of eight seasons with the New York Yankees before signing with the Tigers as a free agent. Romine had his most productive season with New York in 2018, batting .244 with a career-high 10 homers and 42 RBIs in 77 games. Chicago has Willson Contreras in place as starting catcher, but he has been mentioned in trade rumors. The Cubs are retooling under President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer, but they are hoping to stay in the mix in the NL Central after winning the division in 2020. ___ Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

CHICAGO (AP) — Anthony Rizzo was ready to go. The slugging first baseman for the Chicago Cubs showed up to summer camp in great shape, looking forward to the season.Then a familiar problem surfaced again.Rizzo is tracking pitches and doing strength and stability exercises while he waits for his ailing back to calm down. An MRI on Tuesday showed rib-head inflammation on his left side that is causing spasms — a condition he has dealt with before in his career.“Frustrating, just because how physically in shape I felt like I was coming in,” Rizzo said Wednesday. “Just can’t control the flareups. The MRI getting kind of what we knew, just confirming it. Just kind of getting it to calm down and get back out there as fast as I can.”Rizzo, who turns 31 next month, tested his back when he took live batting practice on Sunday, But it didn't respond very well to the session.The Cubs open the season on July 24 against Milwaukee, and any prolonged absence for Rizzo would be a big blow for the team.... [More]