Shortstop prospect Jacob Amaya had a memorable 2018 season. Entering the season just a year removed from high school, Amaya climbed the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league ladder quickly.
Beginning his season with the rookie-advance Ogden Raptors, Amaya slashed .346/.465/.535 with a 1.000 OPS before receiving the call to the Low-A Great Lakes Loons.
Amaya took a slight step back in the Midwest League but still put up respectable numbers for a younger player. Amaya, who was roughly 2.3 years younger than the league average, showed an advanced plate approach for a 20-year-old. In fact, Amaya drew 20 walks in 119 Midwest League plate appearances, which was a major contributor to his .390 OBP with the Loons.
As expected, Amaya takes tremendous pride in his plate approach, which he feels has developed nicely in pro ball.
“My plate approach is coming around pretty good,” said Amaya. “There’s a lot of learning experiences [in pro ball] and I’m taking that in pretty well.”
“I’m never dissing any information coming to me,” Amaya added. “I take any information given to me day-by-day and I roll with it.”
His offense was solid, but for Amaya it’s his defense that he feels sets him apart in pro ball, and the numbers back it up. Amaya has a .949 fielding percentage with 196 assists and 41 double plays in 606.1 career innings at shortstop.
“I’ve developed really fast defensively,” he explained. “I learned the fields pretty fast and I’m very confident in my fielding. I feel it’s my strongest skill.”
Amaya has also logged an additional 154 innings at second base, where he has posted a .974 fielding percentage with 40 assists and five double plays.
“I like shortstop the best,” said Amaya, “but I’m comfortable anywhere in the middle infield.”
Be sure to follow Jacob Amaya in 2019, as he looks to continue progressing in pro ball.
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