The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve designated infielder Jacob Amaya for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to newly signed infielder Josh Rojas, whose previously reported one-year deal has now been formally announced by the club.
Amaya, 26, was just claimed off waivers by the White Sox in August. He got into 23 games for the club after that, slashing .179/.225/.194 in his 71 plate appearances. He exhausted his final option year in 2024, meaning he was going to be challenged to hang onto a roster spot through the season, so he’s been nudged off today. The Sox will now have a week to figure out what’s next with Amaya, whether that’s a trade or putting him on waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any potential deals would have to take place in the next five days.
Amaya was once a prospect of some note with both the Dodgers and the Marlins, as Baseball America ranked him as a top 30 prospect in one of those organizations in each year from 2019 to 2024. He has been considered a fairly well-rounded player, with solid defense at shortstop and the capability to play second or third base as well.
Offensively, he has generally had good strikeout and walk rates but has struggled to do significant damage at the upper levels. He has stepped to the plate 1,219 times at the Triple-A level over the past three years. His 12.4% walk rate and 21.4% strikeout rate in that time are both a bit better than average but his combined .246/.342/.380 batting line translates to a wRC+ of just 84. That indicates he’s been 16% below league average on the whole.
The profile has been enough to attract interest around the league. He was traded from the Dodgers to the Marlins a few years ago, then bounced to the Astros and White Sox in 2024. Perhaps there’s still some intrigue from clubs but his out-of-options status will make it harder for any team to carry him on the roster during the season. It’s possible some club with an open roster spot will put in a claim and try to pass him through waivers later on, or maybe the White Sox will be the club to pass him through and keep him as non-roster depth.
Mr. Reinsdorf please sell the team. Terrible brand of baseball from ownership to low minors. ask the Southside.
I sympathize with you I just think it’s funny how this is the article you comment it on. Come on Reinsdorf, really outdone yourself this time by designating Jacob Amaya for assignment
Right? Must be Amayas grandmaman. Amaya was not likely to remain on the 40 man so better to bite the bullet now and try to pass him thru waivers if they keep him for depth.
I think it’s more of the fact that we got one subpar player to replace another subpar player with even less upside.
No. A 2.1 war player was signed. Other than the departed Crochet no one on the 2024 team performed at this level. The man cut is not a major league level player. Since the 2024 roster was horrendously bad and the minors have players that either are not ready to contribute or never will be able to be replacement level players the only quick fix to lose less than 100 games is to sign players that won’t break the bank but can actually play at a major league level. Rojas qualifies.
I meant subpar offensively. I could see Amaya putting up just as much value as Rojas this year.
Not to mention Rojas is not going to play much OF this year (where he’s best at by the eye-test and defensive metrics) which will take a bite out of his value.
Rojas has played 32 innings in the outfield in the last 3 years. That’s less than 4 games worth of innings. There’s no possible way you have an opinion via the eye test.
He’s graded out well at 2B and 3B the last 2 years. He’s gotten nothing to boost his WAR number from the OF in the last 3 years at all.
There’s this brilliant thing called YouTube, not sure if you’re aware of it. It’s pretty neat. You can check out videos of players outside of the current year!
Anyways, sarcasm aside, I lived in Arizona for a period of time and all I watched was dback games. He’d probably be somewhat rusty but I can tell you without a doubt, the man can play the outfield. Imo he looked at his best in the outfield defensively. He played the corners very well.
Is losing fewer than 100 games really a goal? The draft pick would not suffer any penalty next year.
True WS fans comment this on every article.
Your description of slashing is hardly appropriate when a guy hits .179.