Miguel Amaya opened his 2025 campaign stateside with a bang on Thursday night, driving in a career-high five RBI in the Chicago Cubs’ 10-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

Amaya, 26, hammered a double to center in the fifth inning, clearing the bases and scoring three runs to help the Cubs break open a one-run game and giving them a 7-3 lead. Amaya provided some insurance in the ninth inning with a two-run double down the left field line to cap the Cubs’ big offensive night.

Amaya, now in his third season as the Cubs’ backstop, closed the 2024 season strong, posting a .761 OPS in his final 50 games of the season, nearly .200 points higher than his pre-All-Star break numbers. 

“Miguel is a really smart baseball player but he just hadn’t played a lot of baseball really,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters before Friday night’s game against the Diamondbacks. “He’d been injured in the minor leagues a little bit and he got to the big leagues really fast. And, what got thrown at him a lot, he struggled from it, but he also learned really quickly from it. And that’s a credit to Miguel, it really is.

“And then he kind of got to the second half of the season, and he made adjustments – which the league requires every player to do, nearly every player to do – and he’s off to a good start. And was a good offensive player the second half of last year.”

Amaya made a mechanical change to his swing in the second half of 2024, eliminating a high leg kick that was credited with his second half surge. So far in 2025, Amaya looks to be picking up right where he left off in 2024.

“Offensively, he’s done such a good job, when he went to that toe down approach, he’s been seeing the ball great and he’s giving himself a chance to hit,” Ian Happ, who also contributed three RBI in the win, told Taylor McGregor on Cubs Postgame Live. “He’s so strong, so he doesn’t need much momentum, he just gets that foot down and let’s his body work. It’s been really, really good.”

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Amaya also had a double and picked up the Cubs only RBI in the Opening Day, 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo. 

He is expected to split playing time in 2025 with free agent signing Carson Kelly, who the Cubs signed to a two-year, $11.5 million contract this offseason. So far in 2025, Amaya has started making his case for the greater share of playing time with two solid offensive performances to open the season out of the lower third of the lineup.

“From 1 to 9, everybody can do damage. It is a scary lineup for the opposite team,” Amaya said on Cubs Live!

Amaya and the Cubs continue their west coast swing in Arizona and Sacramento, all games available on Marquee Sports Network and the Marquee Sports Network App.