The Cubs announced this afternoon that they’ve placed outfielder Owen Caissie on the 7-day concussion-related injured list. Outfielder Kevin Alcantara was recalled from Triple-A to replace Caissie on the active roster.
The move comes just one day after the Cubs recalled Caissie to the big league roster and optioned Alcantara to the minors. Caissie started yesterday’s game against the Rays but exited the game after hitting his head against the outfield wall at Wrigley Field while making a catch. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun Times) that Caissie was being put through the concussion protocol after yesterday’s game. Evidently, Caissie’s symptoms were severe enough that they opted to place him on the shelf and get him time to recover.
That decision well might bring Caissie’s first season in the big leagues to an end, depending on the severity of his concussion symptoms. If that’s the case, he’ll end 2025 with just 12 games and 27 plate appearances in the big leagues, during which he collected five hits (including a double and a homer) and one walk against eleven strikeouts. That cup of coffee pairs with a strong performance with Iowa this year, where he slashed .286/.386/.551 with 22 homers and 28 doubles in just 99 games. A consensus top-50 prospect in the game, Caissie could get a lot more runway with the Cubs come next season if Kyle Tucker departs the club via free agency in the offseason.
For now, however, his roster spot will go to Alcantara. A fellow top Cubs prospect generally viewed as sitting near the back of the league-wide top 100, Alcantara has appeared in just three games this year. He’s gone 1-for-7 with three strikeouts this year and figures to serve mostly as a bench piece for the Cubs in the coming weeks, though injuries could offer him more opportunities. Both Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki are currently unavailable; Suzuki due to an illness that has left him day-to-day in recent days, and Tucker due to a calf issue that’s sent him to the injured list. Fellow top prospect Moises Ballesteros (7-for-28 with three extra base hits) is getting a look at DH at the moment, and that leaves right field open for some combination of Alcantara and Willi Castro until Suzuki is ready to return to games. Once Suzuki is back, Alcantara, Ballesteros, and Castro will all be competing for playing time until Tucker’s eventual return to the lineup.
That might not be for a while, as Counsell told reporters (including Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic) on Friday that Tucker returning as soon as he’s eligible to be activated on Tuesday is “unlikely right now.” Perhaps that stance could change in the coming days, but Tucker has not yet resumed running since he was placed on the injured list. While the Cubs aren’t in danger of losing their playoff spot at this point, getting the star’s 140 wRC+ bat back into the lineup with enough time for him to get settled in before the playoffs begin seems sure to be a top priority for the Cubs over the season’s final two weeks.
That’s Kyle Tucker in the pic
The red hair is a dead giveaway. Otherwise, you’re mostly correct.
Would love to see both Alcantara and Caissie get a real shot next season.
I’d like to see them try Cantata too. It’s a great art form.
It will most likely be Wednesday or Thursday but it would be nice to lock down that playoff spot Tuesday by beating Skenes.
Yeah as my bestie Alan53-LPCFSM25 will surely let us know the Cubs making the postseason is no guarantee. With a 10 game cushion and 13 to play I wouldn’t be feeling so confident. I think a 1-12 finish feels about right. Heck I think the Rockies might still catch the Cubbies.
Sorry to hear Tucker is on the injury list again… Oh, wait, wrong picture.
Caissie learns the lesson everybody has to learn at Wrigley sooner rather than later. Bricks are hard.
Cubs need to be resting Boyd and Horton for the Playoffs. I’d set it up for Boyd, Horton then Imanaga. Maybe figure out how to make that happen and then let them throw 3 innings and get them out of there. With Civale, Tallion, and Assad around they can split it up where they’re not completely sitting but not getting worn out. They’re both at way more innings than are necessary for right now. If they pitch a few innings and then maybe the other guys can finish might save the pen too. I’d have Horton throwing between the lefties and hope Boyd is the early Boyd. Then they might actually advance as long as the offense doesn’t fall apart.
Based on his approach (hits > strikeouts), Ballesteros is more likely to be a good major-league-level hitter than Caissie or Alcantara. Unfortunately, he seems suited as a DH only.
At the very least, he looks so much more prepared and much more comfortable as a hitter than either of the other two. Pretty poised for a 21 year old…small sample size understood.
Ballesteros is looking much better at the plate than he did his first brief glimpse of the majors. That first time up, he tried pulling everything, no matter the type of pitch or how far it ranged off the outside corner. That led to a bunch of weak groundballs to short.
This time around, he’s letting the bat send the ball where the pitch logically says it should go. More opposite field, and not over-swinging at everything. It’s just the very first adjustments he’ll make as pitchers adjust to him and he adjusts back and so on.
I thought Caissie looked pretty good overall. Definitely shows some promise, and if Tucker doesn’t re-sign in the offseason, my disappointment will be lessened by the excitement of Caissie getting a real look in right field (assuming the Cubs go in that direction).
Ballesteros gives me young David Ortiz vibes.
More Victor Martinez vibes for me, but that would still be a pretty darn good hitter.
Owen Loves his Mommy
It’s harder than you think to go undefeated in baseball.
I would think that Cassie will make the playoff roster.
Maybe some padding on the outfield walls? Running hard into brick walls can cause some very serious injuries (like concussions, broken bones, and others). Would padding on the walls cause a significant change in the game? It would not stop all injuries of course, but it would stop some.