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Owen Caissie (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

The Cubs have called up outfielder Owen Caissie to make his MLB debut Thursday against the Blue Jays. Here’s everything to know about the 58th-ranked prospect in the game.

What Caissie Does Well

Caissie’s power is impressive. He’s averaged a home run every 26.4 plate appearances in the minor leagues, and he’s a .280/.384/.489 career MiLB hitter. This year he has 22 home runs in 93 games.

Under the hood, Caissie’s analytical numbers match his production. He has a max exit velocity this year of 113.3 mph and has registered 110+ mph EVs 11 times. Caissie does a good job driving the ball in the air, although more often with hard line drives than lofted fly balls. His average launch angle this year is 12.1 degrees.

Obviously, the major leagues are more challenging than Triple-A, but if you want to know what Caissie’s under-the-hood Triple-A production looks like, it’s a near mirror image of Bryce Harper’s 2025 MLB season. You can obviously expect some regression in Caissie’s numbers when he reaches the majors, but a lesser version of Harper would still be a very intriguing player.

CategoryOwen Caissie
AAA STATSBryce Harper
MLB Stats90EV107.7107.350EV103.3102.9AVG91.491.495+51%49%Avg. Launch Angle12.112.4Stats.289/.389/.566.256/.356/.490

In his second year at the Triple-A level, Caissie has shown modest improvements in almost every category. He’s increased his exit velocity, hard-hit rate and power production, while largely maintaining the same walk and strikeout rates.

CategoryCaissie 2024Caissie 202590EV106.5107.750EV101.4103.3AVG89.391.495+4351Avg. Launch Angle13.912.1AVG.278.289OBP.375.389SLG.472.566BB%12.9%13.1%K%28.4%28.2%

Caissie is an above-average runner. His 28.8 feet per second average sprint speed this year is roughly the equivalent of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Parker Meadows.

Caissie’s arm strength is average. His max velocity throw this year is 92.3 mph. He’s thrown out seven baserunners this year, and he fits in either left or right field.

What Caissie Doesn’t Do Well

Against lefthanded pitchers, Caissie transforms into a slap-hitter who’s just looking to serve the ball to left field.

According to Synergy Sports data, he’s hit .235/.369/.388 against lefties this year. Most notably, he’s pulled just one ball in the air in 103 plate appearances. The result is a Synergy spray chart you would not expect from a big and powerful lefthanded hitter:

In comparison, Caissie is hitting .312/.402/.637 against righthanders. That spray chart shows how he has true all-fields power against righties:

It’s likely the Cubs will try to keep Caissie from facing tough lefthanders. That said, he is able to draw some walks to avoid being completely lost against lefties.

Overall, Caissie’s swing-and-miss issues are the biggest hurdle that could keep him from consistent MLB success. He’s vulnerable to sliders (41% miss rate this year and a 41% chase rate).

What’s Odd About Him

Caissie is exceptionally experienced for a player who just turned 23. Tracking every MiLB player of the past 17 to 18 seasons—with most of those MLB players’ MiLB careers having started back in the 1990s—we found only 80 examples of hitters who had 750+ Triple-A plate appearances by their 23rd birthday.

Caissie’s 41 Triple-A home runs at this age is among the most we’ve seen in the minors over the past few decades. Of every hitter in Baseball America’s stat databases, only 27 had 30+ home runs through their age-23 seasons.

This, admittedly, is a weird stat, as the fastest movers don’t get a chance to show up on this list. Juan Soto, for example, had almost 100 MLB home runs by the end of his age-23 season because he flew to the majors. Caissie, meanwhile, is in the weird grouping of players who quickly reached Triple-A but then got stuck there, either because of struggles at the plate (not the case with Caissie) or because they were stuck behind big leaguers blocking them (which is the case with Caissie).

PlayerTriple-A PASeasonsHRAVGOBPSLGBB%K%Chad Hermansen1383371.255.322.4927.9526.03Joel Guzman1585456.270.321.4546.8124.23Karim Garcia1165353.309.362.5637.7320.52Melvin Nieves1202351.292.384.50411.7326.37Phil Plantier875249.275.391.55214.5124.23Marc Newfield1287547.307.374.5108.2412.82Ryan Klesko1196346.265.341.45510.0316.22Willie Greene895245.277.365.50911.9619.11Jhonkensy Noel887345.243.319.4677.7823.9Owen Caissie953241.282.381.51213.0128.33Dernell Stenson941241.270.353.47610.6323.17Adam Jones885241.301.364.5387.2320.79Dayan Viciedo868241.287.341.4946.4518.66Arquimedez Pozo1440340.289.344.4486.948.33B.J. Upton1422439.294.391.46713.0120.32Jesus Montero967239.289.351.4938.4819.54Victor Diaz1096338.279.328.4585.9321.44Matt Dominguez1558437.249.318.3938.4114.38Deyvison De Los Santos756237.259.315.4656.7525Juan Williams1047335.230.309.38610.2227.6Andy Marte854235.268.349.48011.4819.2Juan Encarnacion960234.307.377.5017.517.81Franklin Barreto861334.280.347.4827.6729.15Randall Simon1008232.289.331.4625.2613.79Kyle Skipworth911332.210.278.3717.7931.72Aramis Ramirez928330.322.411.51411.6411.85Lee Stevens910230.267.363.48612.7521.76