Player: Owen Caissie
Position: Outfielder
Height: 6’4 Weight: 215 Age: 20 Bats/Throws: L/R Current Level: A+ South Bend
MLB.com Rank: 10th in Cubs System
Fangraphs Rank: 3rd in Cubs System
Acquired: Trade from San Diego Padres along with Zach Davies, Reginald Preciado, Yeison Santana and Ismael Mena for Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini
Hometown: Burlington, Ontario, Canada
The Padres selected Caissie 45th overall in the 2020 Draft. But Caissie was only able to participate in instructional league before he was traded to Chicago in the Yu Darvish trade.
He hit the ground running in 2021 when he hit .349/.478/.596 in the Rookie Level Arizona League. He earned a promotion to A-Myrtle Beach where his numbers took a dip as he adjusted to higher competition level. He’s spent this year in High-A South Bend where he’s hitting .255/.346/.402 as of this post. He has 10 HR, 56 RBI and a surprising 11 stolen bases. He leads South Bend with 43 walks, but also has 110 strikeouts, so there’s a lot of swing-and-miss there too.
Scouting Grades
| Hitting | Raw Power | Game Power | Running | Fielding | Throwing |
| 20/40 | 55/65 | 25/60 | 40/30 | 40/50 | 60 |
Caissie’s big tool is his raw power. He’s already shown max exit velos exceeding 112 mph, which is the highest in the Cubs system and among the Top 20 in all of the minor leagues. With big frame, he’s got the body of someone who should grow into even more power as he progresses.
The negatives are that his defense is a work in progress, but he does exhibit plus arm strength. He’ll also swing-and-miss a fair amount, but the fairly high walk numbers could indicate that he has a good knowledge of the strike zone. In the graph below you’ll see he has slightly more walks and strikeouts than most of the South Bend Cubs. This suggests he has the ability to work counts. That’s even more impressive when you take into account, he is the youngest hitter on the team!
Owen Caissie is a really intriguing prospect with some big-time power potential. I’m excited to see him progress and mature as a hitter. There’s still plenty of adjustments he’s getting used to as you’ll see if you watch the video below. He has plenty of power and that’s something the Cubs could use, especially from the left side of the plate. One positive is he’ll be no stranger playing in cold weather having grown up playing in Canada.