Though the Chicago Cubs have fallen behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, Chicago remains one of the best teams in baseball. The team sits at 68-51 entering Thursday and holds the top wild-card spot in the National League.
But after running out one of the best offenses in baseball during the entire first half, the Cubs are scuffling at the plate. The team’s 96 wRC+ — an advanced stat which measures offensive performance — ranks just 21st over the past 30 days. The team’s entire outfield, in particular, is a big reason for that regression in August.
Help is reportedly on the way. With the team struggling at the plate, the Cubs will reportedly call up top prospect Owen Caissie ahead of Thursday’s game, per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
Caissie, 23, has been on prospect radars since the Cubs acquired him from the San Diego Padres in the Yu Darvish trade back in 2020. He’s obliterated baseballs this season, slashing .289/.389/.566, with 22 home runs, over 404 plate appearances in Triple-A.
It’s unclear where Caissie will play considering the Cubs usually rely on Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ and Kyle Tucker as their starting outfield, with Seiya Suzuki serving as the team’s regular designated hitter.
What seems likely is that Caissie will get a start Thursday. Caissie was born in Burlington, Canada, and the Cubs are finishing up a series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. Caissie may have been called up so he could make his major-league debut in front of friends and family in Canada. Burlington is a little over an hour drive from Toronto.
While Caissie has shown strong power potential and posted excellent walk rates, strikeouts remain an issue for the slugger. Despite his success this season, Caissie is striking out in 28 percent of his plate appearances, a troublesome total for a minor-league player.
Swing and miss issues have always been a promise for Caissie, but they haven’t stopped him from appearance on top prospect lists. Baseball Prospectus has listed Caissie on its top-101 prospect list for four straight years. Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Caissie on their own lists the past two years.
Caissie is expected to take the roster spot of catcher Miguel Amaya, who returned to action from an injury Wednesday, but needed to be carted off the field due to a left ankle injury.
It’s unclear how the Cubs plan to utilize Caissie and the rest of the team’s outfielders the rest of the way. But with the team’s postseason hopes looking strong, working Caissie in sporadically and letting him acclimate to the majors now could pay dividends if the rookie can play his way onto the postseason roster in October.
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