Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

MLB Pipeline ranked Cubs top prospect Owen Caissie as the third-best player in the Cubs’ farm system today. He also signed with a new agency, Rich Paul’s Klutch Sports. Klutch Sports’ biggest client is LeBron James, as they started with just basketball. Paul recently acquired Rep 1 Baseball Agency, who has clients such as Rafael Devers, Devin Williams, and Andrés Giménez.

Jed Hoyer doesn’t like to take risks. We know this, and he’s even publicly said this when talking about big free agent contracts. Therefore, I don’t think he is looking to sign any young players right away. We’ve seen these extensions happen more often lately, such as Jackson Chourio and Ceddanne Rafaela last offseason. The Braves have basically their whole team extended, and I get why they are willing to take those risks.

I’m not saying that Hoyer will surprise everyone and extend Owen Caissie before he’s even promoted, or soon after, but you really never know. As long as Scott Boras isn’t his agent, there’s always a chance.

Matt Spiegel of 670 the Score reported on Tuesday that Owen Caissie will be called up in September when the active rosters expand, as long as everything continues to go according to plan. Clearly something like an injury could change things, whether its himself or someone on the major league squad.

In 95 games with Triple-A Iowa this season, Caissie has a .808 OPS with a .270 average., along with a .351 wOBA. His one big issue is the strikeout. As of Tuesday evening, his K rate is 28%, but even then he is still hitting above average. His power is what excites fans the most, with Fangraphs giving him 70/80 for raw power.

Caissie is currently not on the 40-man roster, and will need to be added in order to stay protected when the Rule 5 Draft roles around this winter. As of Tuesday, the Cubs 40-man is full, so someone will have to be taken off in order to fit Caissie, although there are several options for who to get rid of.