Though the Chicago Cubs have fallen behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, Chicago remains one of the best teams in baseball. The team sits at 68-51 entering Thursday and holds the top wild-card spot in the NL.
But after running out one of the best offenses in baseball during the entire first half, the Cubs are scuffling at the plate. The team's 96 wRC+ — an advanced stat which measures offensive performance — ranks just 21st over the past 30 days. The team's entire outfield, in particular, is a big reason for that regression in August.
Help is on the way, though. With the team struggling at the plate, the Cubs called up top prospect Owen Caissie ahead of Thursday's game, the team confirmed.
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It's unclear where Caissie will play considering the Cubs usually rely on Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ and Kyle Tucker as their starting outfield, with Seiya Suzuki serving as the team's regular designated hitter.
For at least one game, however, Caissie will take Suzuki's spot. The rookie served as the team's designated hitter and batted fifth in his major-league debut.
Both Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong were out of the lineup Thursday, though neither player is injured. They were likely just getting extra rest after recent slumps.
Caissie will make his major-league debut in his home country. Caissie was born in Burlington, Canada, and the Cubs are finishing up a series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday. Caissie may have been called up Thursday so he could make his major-league debut in front of friends and family in Canada. Burlington is a little over an hour drive from Toronto.
Unfortunately for Caissie, Blue Jays outfielder Davis Schneider didn't care about any of that. Caissie looked to have an extra-base hit in his first major-league at-bat, but was robbed of it after a diving catch by Schneider in left field.
While Caissie has shown strong power potential and posted excellent walk rates, strikeouts remain an issue for the slugger. Despite his success this season, Caissie is striking out in 28 percent of his plate appearances, a troublesome total for a minor-league player.
Swing and miss issues have always been a promise for Caissie, but they haven't stopped him from appearing on top of prospect lists. Baseball Prospectus has listed Caissie on its top-101 prospect list for four straight years. Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Caissie on their own lists the past two years.
As expected, Caissie took the roster spot of catcher Miguel Amaya, who returned to action from an injury Wednesday, but needed to be carted off the field due to a left ankle injury.
It's unclear how the Cubs plan to utilize Caissie and the rest of the team's outfielders the rest of the way. But with the team's postseason hopes looking strong, working Caissie in sporadically and letting him acclimate to the majors now could pay dividends if the rookie can play his way onto the postseason roster in October.
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