The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve (re)claimed infielder Jacob Amaya off waivers from the Orioles. Chicago designated outfielder Zach DeLoach for assignment in a corresponding move.
The ChiSox designated Amaya for assignment less than a month ago and lost him on waivers to Baltimore. The O’s subsequently designated Amaya for assignment themselves not long after and unsuccessfully tried to pass him through waivers. The Sox now effectively get a mulligan on the DFA that cost them Amaya in the first place, and they’ll instead jettison the 26-year-old DeLoach from the 40-man roster.
Amaya, 26, originally landed with the South Siders by way of an August waiver claim. In the past year, he’s gone from the Marlins, to the Astros, to the White Sox, to the Orioles, back to the White Sox via waivers. He played 23 games with the Sox last season but hit just .179/.255/.194 in a small sample. In a total of 81 MLB plate appearances between Miami, Houston and Chicago, Amaya is a .182/.222/.195 hitter. However, he’s touted as a high-end defender at shortstop and also has the ability to handle either second base or third base.
The Dodgers originally selected Amaya in the 11th round of the 2017 draft. He was traded to the Marlins in the Jan. 2023 deal shipping Miguel Rojas from Miami to Los Angeles. Amaya has played in parts of three Triple-A seasons and is a .246/.342/.380 hitter in 1219 plate appearances there. He’s shown a strong eye to go along with his defensive skills, drawing a walk in 12.4% of his plate appearances at the top minor league level.
Amaya is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to break camp with the White Sox or else go through the DFA process yet again. There’s no clear starter at shortstop for Chicago, so Amaya will join a competition including Brooks Baldwin, non-roster invitee Nick Maton and prospects Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth. Montgomery is widely regarded as one of the top infield prospects in the game, though he’s coming off a down season at the Triple-A level.
Amaya’s return to the organization comes at the expense of DeLoach, whom the Sox acquired from the Mariners last winter in the trade sending reliever Gregory Santos to Seattle. Righty Prelander Berroa and a competitive balance draft pick also went to the Sox in that swap.
DeLoach’s first and now possibly only season in the White Sox organization didn’t go especially well. On the one hand, he did make his big league debut. On the other, he only posted a .209/.293/.328 batting line in 75 turns at the dish. His Triple-A output (.287/.375/.410) was solid but didn’t include any real gains from a 2023 campaign wherein he batted .286/.378/.481 in Triple-A Tacoma. If anything, the 2024 season as a step backward, as DeLoach fell from a career-high 23 homers in 2023 to a career-low six homers this past season.
As a prospect in the Mariners and White Sox systems, DeLoach was well-regarded not because of any standout individual tool but because he possessed average — or close to it — tools across the board. He’s an above-average runner who swiped 20 bags in 2024 and popped 23 homers in 2023. He walks in well over 10% of his plate appearances but has also fanned in more than a quarter of his plate appearances the past two seasons. DeLoach has experience at all three outfield spots. He can handle center in a pinch but is best suited in left field.
The White Sox have five days to trade DeLoach, and after that they’ll have to put him on waivers (a 48-hour process). He has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so a team looking for some lefty-hitting outfield depth could have interest either on a waiver claim or a small trade.
Kinda surprising that there’s no one worse than DeLoach to DFA from that WSox roster..
Baldwin, Vargas, Fletcher, Lee and Lee all had lower OPS+ last season (though Fletcher and Lee were the anchors of their positions FWIW). Yeah, they had to have a vendetta…
There are many. Justin Anderson continues to top the list, but maybe he bought the FO some nice holiday gifts.
DeLoach certainly wasn’t the worst player on their 40.
Zach DeLoach might be busy with a Rage Against the Machine tour for baseball to be on his plate.
I’d like to see the Sox sign someone who could hit. DeLoach couldn’t hit either. And I’m tired of hearing about small sample size. That becomes an excuse for players who don’t hit in the short term and won’t hit in the long term. And I’m tired of these glove-only players who are supposed to provide great defense in support of young pitchers. Everybody knows how that strategy worked out last season.
Yuck.
Never having to see Jacob Amaya (and Nicky Lopez) be bad at baseball ever again was SUPPOSED to be one of the few highlights of an otherwise dreadful White Sox winter.
Thanks for nothing.