CBN Player of the Week XII _ Owen Caissie
FieldHouse Pirates grad OF Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) earned POW honors.
July 29, 2021
By George Farelli
Canadian Baseball Network
You wouldn’t think a 19-year-old should be worrying on trade deadline day.
Yet as former St. Louis Cardinal Joaquin Andujar used to say “sometimes in baseball I have to say my favourite word?”
And what’s that one word?
“You-never-know.”
On Dec. 29, 2020, the San Diego Padres made a deal with the Chicago Cubs to obtain RHP Yu Darvish in a seven-player deal that included Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) going to the Cubs.
Caissie is on fire with the Cubs’ rookie-class Arizona Complex League squad. Yet, he is with an organization that is in a state of flux going into Friday’s trade deadline day. Slugger Anthony Rizzo has already been traded to the New York Yankees and reliever Ryan Tepera was dealt to the crosstown White Sox. Will there be more moves to happen at Wrigley?
You never know.
What we do know for sure is that Caissie was the Canadian Baseball Network minor league Player of the Week for Week XII. How the week that was for Caissie as he ...
_ Playing right and hitting in the fourth spot he singled in a 2-1 loss to San Francisco Orange at the Papago Sports Complex. He singled to second base in the fourth inning.
_ Batting clean up and playing right field, he was 1-for-3 with an RBI in an 18-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Sloan Park. He singled to right knocking in a run in the fourth inning for the Cubs’ first run as the two-run inning cut the score to 7-2.
_ After two days of cancellations and an off day he was again playing right and hitting fourth in a 7-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants Orange at Sloan Park. The former FieldHouse Pirate hit a solo homer. Caissie went deep in the seventh. He led off with a drive to left centre for his third homer which cut the Giants lead to 5-2.
_ Playing right and hitting fourth, Caissie had a pair of hits, including a homer, and knocked in a pair of runs in a 6-4, 10-innings win against the Rockies at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Caissie hit a two-run homer, his fourth, to right field as the Cubs went up 2-0. He also lined a single to left in the eighth.
In December, Victor Caratini and Darvish were dealt to the Padres for Zach Davies, minor leaguers Ismael Mena, Reginald Preciado, Yeison Santana and Caissie.
Best Offensive Performance
Player / Class / Team AB R H HR RBI AVG
Owen Caissie - Rkie ACL Cubs 11 3 6 2 4 .545
Otto Lopez - AA New Hampshire 15 4 7 - 3 .467
Kole Cottam - Hi A Greenville 14 2 6 1 3 .429
Kyle MacDonald - Hi A Hudson Valley 14 3 5 - 1 .357
T.J. Schofield-Sam - Low A Stockton 22 2 7 1 5 .318
Jordan Nwogu - Low A Myrtle Beach 20 3 6 1 5 .300
Wes Darvill - IND Winnipeg 23 2 9 1 3 .391
Jonathan Lacroix - IND Quebec 26 3 10 1 7 .385
Myles Miller - IND Boise 16 3 6 - - .375
John Lantigua - IND New Hampshire 22 4 8 1 4 .364
Connor Panas - IND Quebec 28 3 10 - 4 .357
David Glaude - IND Quebec 30 6 10 1 6 .333
Canice Ejoh - IND Salina 15 2 5 - 3 .333
Jesse Hodges - IND Quebec 20 4 6 1 2 .300
(Minimum 10 ABs)
Best Pitching Performance
Unusual circumstances with the pitching performances this week. By my count there were 27 appearances by Canadian pitchers with affiliated teams, and the net result was zero wins, four losses and four saves.
In my opinion, there was no particular individual performance which stood out and as a result, this segment remains blank.
Player of the Week
Week I _ Noah Skirrow (Stoney Creek, Ont.) Jersey Shore BlueClaws (Phillies).
Week III _ Andrew Yerzy (Toronto, Ont.) class-A Hillsboro Hops/class-A Visailia Oaks (Diamondbacks)
Week IV _ Indigo Diaz (North Vancouver, BC) class-A Rome Braves (Braves)
Week V _ Edouard Julien (Ancienne-Lorette, Que.) class-A Ft. Myers Mighty Mussels (Twins).
Week VI _ RHP Logan Hofmann (Muenster, Sask.) class-A Bradenton Marauders (Pirates)
Week VII _ INF-OF Otto Lopez (Montreal, Que.) double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Jays).
Week VIII _ RHP Cade Smith (Abbotsford, BC) class-A Lynchburg Hillcats (Cleveland)
Week IX _ RHP Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) double-A Wichita Wind Surge (Twins)
Week X _ C Kole Cottam (Knoxville, Tenn.) class-A East Greenville (Red Sox)
Week XI _ RHP Jordan Balazovic (Mississauga, Ont.) double-A Wichita Wind Surge (Twins)
Week XII _ OF Owen Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) rookie-class Arizona Complex League (Cubs).