The Cubs face a crucial offseason in 2024-25. Before it begins, Cubs writers Tony Andracki and Andy Martínez address 5 key areas of the team — and why you should and shouldn’t be optimistic about them. Next up, the Cubs catching situation.

Andy Martínez: For the first 3 months of the season, the catching position was a massive question mark — and a big worry. Over the final few months, Miguel Amaya helped stabilize it. 

In early July, Amaya and the Cubs coaching staff worked on implemented a change in his swing mechanics — they dropped his leg kick for more of a toe tap and the results were phenomenal. From July 7 on (when he made the change), Amaya slashed .282/.331/.468 with 6 home runs and 32 RBI. His batting average in that time was third amongst catchers who had played at least 50 games and his .799 OPS was 6th among backstops. 

That’s given the Cubs a foundation for the catching position as they head into 2025. 

Tony Andracki: As you said, Andy, the first 3 months of the season was a worst-case scenario for the Cubs in terms of the catching position.

Veteran Yan Gomes had a strong 2023 campaign but struggled mightily this year and the Cubs ended up releasing him in June.

Amaya was an asset behind the plate this season from start to finish in terms of calling a game and working well with the pitching staff.

However, he got out to a slow start throwing out potential base-stealers. Amaya was able to turn it around in the final couple months of 2024 but still finished with a 18.7% caught-stealing rate that is slightly below the league average (20%). 

Offensively, Amaya really struggled before the adjustments Andy mentioned. 

In his first 63 games (through July 3), Amaya hit only .186 with a .249 on-base percentage and .256 slugging percentage – making for a lowly .505 OPS. He had just 7 extra-base hits – including 2 homers – to go along with 15 RBI and 11 runs scored in a half-season’s worth of action.

Christian Bethancourt finally solidified the backup role behind Amaya late in the year. While he is under team control for 2025, the veteran is 33 years old and has bounced around the league throughout his career. 

Even with the turnaround by Amaya and the emergence of Bethancourt, the Cubs still finished 29th in MLB in catcher WAR (-0.2) based on FanGraphs’ metric. Only the White Sox (-2.4 WAR) ranked worse.

For a team that is looking to get back into the postseason for the first time (in a full season) since 2018, the Cubs can’t have a catching group finish second-to-last in WAR again in 2025. 

Now, it’s very possible Amaya made lasting adjustments at the plate in the middle of this year. After all, he is a young player going through his first full MLB season and didn’t have many at-bats over the last few years due to the pandemic and a variety of injuries.

But what if Amaya struggles again offensively? Or what if he gets injured? He has dealt with serious injuries in his career already and the catching position is notoriously difficult on players’ health.

[WATCH: Jed Hoyer’s complete end-of-season press conference]

The only other catcher on the 40-man roster besides Amaya and Bethancourt is 28-year-old Caleb Knight, who was added just before the end of the 2024 season and has never played in the big leagues.

Moises Ballesteros is a top prospect in the system but he is only turning 21 in November and he has only played 68 games at Triple-A. Just 45 of those games came as a catcher, as he also played first base and DH.

Ballesteros’ bat is advanced and it’s not unrealistic at all to think he could be ready to face big-league pitching at some point in 2025. But will he be ready defensively to catch and handle a pitching staff — on either a part-time or regular basis?

While I believe in Amaya’s potential and I think Ballesteros could be a special bat, it feels to me like the Cubs will want to add to the catching position in some capacity this winter. 

Is it the No. 1 priority? Absolutely not. 

But I would not be shocked if the Cubs add another veteran into the mix to augment the catching group for 2025.

AM: No one, including Amaya, will deny just how profound the struggles were to open the year. But you can’t deny the results Amaya put up to end the year. From July 7 to the end of the year, his 124 weighted runs-created plus was incredible. 

He’s probably not 24% above league over a full season, but if lines up around league average in wRC+ range, that’s a real plus to the offense. 

And his game-calling behind the plate was nothing to scoff at. There’s no real perfect measure for that statistically, but pitchers enjoyed throwing to Amaya. His preparedness and attention to detail was noticed by them and the coaching staff. 

“I remember talking to him in Pittsburgh early in the year and I know he was struggling, he was trying to find his way there, but he never wavered on the catching side,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “He never wavered with his prep. He continued to work to get better. I told him, what he’s doing is the hardest job in baseball. There’s no question about it.”

The 3.67 catching ERA backs that up. He put his pitching staff in a good position to succeed every time he sets up back there. And — even if he’s not hitting 24% better than league average — he’s not the .186 hitter he was to start the year. That’s a good position to be in for the Cubs. 

They’ll go out this offseason and add depth — every team does at such a fragile position — but it’s not the number one focus for this team like it looked to be when the calendar flipped to July. That’s a good thing. That’s player development at the big leagues, and there’ll be plenty more of it, too.

Yin and Yang Series:

How do the Cubs build a top-level bullpen in 2025?
Is the Cubs offense in a good spot?
Will the Cubs rotation remain the strength of this team?
Catching is a top priority for the Cubs this offseason
Are the Cubs set up to be a playoff team in 2025?