The Chicago Cubs held on to top outfield prospect Owen Caissie at the trade deadline because they saw him as a key part of the team’s future.
That future is now.
Caissie is getting called up to the big leagues after staying red hot in the minor leagues for most of the summer, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
What we know:
It was only a matter of time for Caissie to make his big-league debut. He originally came to the Cubs as a key returning piece when Chicago dealt Yu Darvish to the San Diego Padres.
It’s not currently known if he’ll make his debut in Toronto on Thursday for the series finale with the Blue Jays.
Since the start of June, Caissie has been on a heater. He’s recorded a .292 batting average and has hit 22 home runs for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
Caissie went 3-for-5 with a home run and two singles on Tuesday, continuing his minor league tear. This kind of production had him knocking on the door of the big leagues for the last few months, but the Cubs didn’t have room for his bat with an outfield that included Kyle Tucker, Ian Happ and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
On Wednesday, the Cubs watched Miguel Amaya, who had just returned from the injured list, get carted off the field during the team’s win over Toronto. He’ll most likely go back on the injured list.
Hoyer held on to Caissie at the trade deadline instead of sending him in a trade to acquire one of the best pitchers available.
“We made the decision that those prices didn’t make sense for us to be sustainably successful,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “I think the market sort of said that no one else did either.”
What’s next:
Caissie was notably kept by the Cubs at the trade deadline this summer. Now, the team will get to see what he can do at the big-league level.
Hoyer was adamant he wanted to keep the team’s future intact, and it only makes sense the team will look to him as they try and find a spark in the second half of the season.
The Cubs are 11-12 since returning from the MLB All-Star break. Only time will tell if Caissie’s bat can help lift the team out of a slump that’s allowed the Milwaukee Brewers to take full control of the NL Central in August.