The Cubs are planning to promote top prospect Owen Caissie, as reported by Kiley McDaniel and Jesse Rogers of ESPN. The young outfielder is already on the 40-man, and he will presumably take Miguel Amaya’s spot on the active roster. Amaya sprained his ankle tonight and will require an IL stint. As for Caissie, the Ontario native is expected to make his MLB debut tomorrow against the Blue Jays.
The Padres selected Caissie in the second round of the 2020 draft, and they flipped him to the Cubs that winter as part of the trade package that brought Yu Darvish to San Diego. He has since worked his way up Chicago’s minor league system, turning into one of the team’s most promising prospects. Baseball America ranked him 21st in the organization in 2021, eighth in 2022, 13th in 2023, fifth in 2024, and second in 2025. He has also ranked among BA’s overall top 100 prospects in each of the past three years. Not every source was quite as high on Caissie entering the 2025 campaign; FanGraphs dropped him off their top 100 list after ranking him 65th in 2024, while The Athletic’s Keith Law has never included Caissie among his top 100 prospects. Yet, none ever doubted Caissie’s huge raw power – the question was whether he could translate that power into success at the highest level.
That question loomed larger than ever after Caissie slashed .278/.375/.472 with a .195 isolated power and a 115 wRC+ in his season at Triple-A in 2024. Those are solid but hardly earth-shattering numbers, especially not for a bat-first corner outfielder. However, the lefty slugger has taken a massive step forward this year, with 22 home runs and 50 extra-base hits in 92 games for the Iowa Cubs. His .281 ISO and 145 wRC+ both rank fifth among qualified hitters in the International League. His strikeout rate is still high – that has always and probably will always be an issue – but a 28.0% K-rate certainly isn’t fatal, at least not if he keeps drawing his walks and crushing home runs.
None of this is to say that Caissie is a sure-thing, middle-of-the-order jolt for the Cubs’ lineup. He’s still just a 23-year-old prospect who has to prove his swing-and-miss issues won’t sink him against MLB pitching and, in particular, left-handed MLB pitching. Still, it’s exciting that he’s joining the team for the stretch run as they look to hold on to the NL’s top Wild Card spot and try to challenge the seemingly unstoppable Brewers for the NL Central crown. Any offensive boost he can provide will be much appreciated. The Cubs rank among the league’s best offensive teams on the season, but they’ve struggled as of late, scoring just 34 runs in 11 games since the trade deadline.
With that said, it’s worth wondering where Caissie would fit into Chicago’s lineup. He can play the corner outfield or DH, and the Cubs are set at those positions with Kyle Tucker, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki. Tucker bats lefty like Caissie, while Happ is a switch-hitter with stronger splits against righty pitching. Suzuki bats right-handed, but he doesn’t have any trouble facing same-handed pitching. Ultimately, as the cliché goes, this is the best kind of problem for manager Craig Counsell to have. He can take advantage of Caissie’s presence on the roster to give his veterans a bit more rest, particularly the slumping Tucker. As long as Caissie hits, it will work out quite nicely. On the other hand, this means there’s quite a bit of pressure on the youngster to perform right away. The Cubs are as competitive as they’ve been in several years, and they can’t afford to take away reps from Tucker, Suzuki, and Happ if Caissie isn’t producing.
The roster fit isn’t perfect, but the Cubs only had four healthy minor leaguers on the 40-man roster to choose from, and it’s hard to argue that Caissie didn’t earn this opportunity over fellow top prospects Kevin Alcántara and Moisés Ballesteros, or the less-heralded Ben Cowles.
Image in post courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports.
About dang time! Kid has been taking over the last couple months.
Hoping he is the spark plug to get this offense going again!
This is as exciting for me, as Jasson Dominguez(the Martian) making his debut with the Yankees. Caissie is goin be really good!
I’m surprised they aren’t waiting until Saturday to call him up. If they wait then he retains rookie status next season.
At the very least he needs to start tomorrow. If that’s his only start then so be it but it’s a must start for Caissie as much as it’s a must win for the Cubs
He’s playing in the province where he grew up. Classy move. Equally if not more classy was the full hands on deck effort by everyone to attend to Amaya after he was clearly hurt.
It’s a god thing Counsell is smarter than a lot of people here. Sure you’re going to ask the kid to fly all night to get here from Iowa and throw him out there for a day game. That’s clever. Plenty of time for him to play in Pittsburgh.
He grew up 30 miles SWest of Toronto.
Nonstop charter flight would take about 2 hours to go from Des Moines to Toronto.
Counsell won’t play Caissie much. It’s how he rolls.
If Caissie starts crashing home runs all over the place Counsell won’t have a choice!!
Can’t be worse than Happ.
Happ is atrocious. About time they called up Caissie…
Cubs fans are spoiled….poll results to follow…
Is he’s worse than Happ would that make him Happless?
Theo here is a paradox for you.
Only if Caissie is good, Cubs might become Happ-less.
@Bartolo Cologne
It could. That 28% K-rate doesn’t get better as you move up to MLB. I’d be looking at a 32% K-rate for Caissie.
Please don’t be tomorrow. I’m in Toronto for the first two games, but I’m flying to Chicago tomorrow because it’s a weird start at 3 PM. Then I’m going to Wrigley on Friday. I’ll be bitter. Then again it’ll be pretty cool to see his debut at Wrigley anyway.
Rooting for him, another Preller draftee.
Cool. Let’s see if it was really worth it for Jed to hold onto him. Bench Happ and put Caissie in left field until further notice.
Let’s go Canadian Killer!
Love that he’s finally getting the call to the show. I just hate the reason why he’s being called up. To replace an injured player (Miguel Amaya)
I don’t think he or anyone gets called up if the Amaya injury does happen. Jed would never just call him up because he’s the hottest triple A player in baseball and has been for the last 7 weeks. He went on a tear right before the ASG/break
His K-rate is a work in progress. Welcome to the show!
prospectsavant.com/player/683357
Looks like a heavy dose of curveballs and splitters on his way.
Nobody gives a crap about how often somebody strikes out anymore. Get your mind out of the 60’s. He’s hitting .290. Figuring he hits the ball hard at least 35% of the time because they don’t all fall in obviously it would be good enough for anybody, Well almost anybody I guess.
@Unclemike1526
A .290 AAA BA converts to a .246 in the MLB. Add in the K-rate and he’s going to need to be quite productive if he’s staying. I predict he’s still a work in progress and will be humbled during his time in the MLB.
@ Old York
I agree. PCA is finding out the hard way what happens when the league gets a book on you.
Huh? I’ll trade you Will Benson.
Really intrigued by this kid.
I’ll be watching him.
You lose ROY eligibility if you exceed 45 days on a roster. Counting Thursday August the 14th there are 46 days left.
I’m guessing that means this is intended to be a cup of coffee, not a long term promotion. It’s just not a clean roster fit.
I am Canadian. So is Owen caissie. It says he was born in Burlington, Canada. If you’re American, you’re from San Diego, California to give an example and not san diego, United States. Why is this? Also, our currency is called Canadian money. American money is called united states and not American. Can anyone explain this to me? It should be an adjective and not the name of the country. It does say later on on baseball reference that his high school was in Burlington, Ontario.
The overrated pete crow should be benched