Miami Marlins top 29 prospects: SS Jacob Amaya

Let's continue our series of the top Miami Marlins prospects. You can read part one and part two here. Today let's focus on one of The Fish's top off-season acquisitions. I'm of course talking about SS Jacob Amaya. He's not the top SS prospect on the team, that honor goes to Yiddi Cappe, but he's no afterthought either. What can The Fish expect from the prospect, who has an ETA of 2023?

The Miami Marlins have another potential SS of the future in Jacob Amaya.

Jacob Amaya is a 24 year old right handed hitter, who is known for his excellent defensive skills. The former Los Angeles Dodgers prospect has an elite 50/50 rating for his defense. Fangraphs is sadly not very high on him overall, claiming that he will likely be a utility infielder going forward. I don't fully agree with that, but let's keep looking at what Amaya brings to the table.

Speed is no issue for Jacob Amaya, as he has a 55/55 rating from Fangraphs for it. The problem that Fangraphs has with Amaya, is that they question his physicality and power going forward. They say that he has a "great eye for the strike zone", but apparently don't think highly enough of that to rate him higher as a hitter.

Jacob Amaya's swing is described as "short" and "punchy". They say that he knows which pitches to hit for doubles, yet they don't see him as a starting type of player. Why? Not sure. I am sure however that he can make a bigger impact once he's finally called up. I have reasons to believe that backed by evidence....

How is Jacob Amaya doing in AAA? He's hitting a very solid .283/.355/.467 in 50 games and 211 PA. Good batting average, excellent on-base percentage and solid slugging. The .321 BABIP makes it pretty reasonable to see it as legitimate results, and not as a fluke. Why can't Amaya continue that production at the Major League level if he adjusts to that level? That AAA line is surely not that of a backup player.