MLB insiders name this Cubs prospect as most likely player to be moved at trade deadline

It's no secret that the NL Central-leading Cubs are going to be aggressive buyers at the 2025 MLB trade deadline.

In need of a third baseman, some bench help, and at least one starting pitcher, Chicago's best team will be bringing in reinforcements ahead of the second-half stretch run.

Of course, in order to acquire some of the players they've been connected to, the Cubs are going to have to pony up, both monetarily and in terms of prospects. With a deep farm system that features multiple Futures Game participants, the Cubs have the prospect capital to pull a blockbuster deal (or two) off, but it's not going to be easy to surrender such high-upside young talent.

In a MLB front office poll conducted by The Athletic, Jim Bowden asked general managers and top executives which prospects they expect to be dealt at the deadline. As you might expect from this preamble, a top Cubs prospect was the consensus No. 1 answer.

That prospect? Owen Caissie.

Cubs' Owen Caissie named prospect most likely to be traded at MLB deadline

Caissie, who has been one of the top prospects in the Cubs' system since being acquired for Yu Darvish in 2020, is finally knocking on the MLB door after a blistering June.

In 66 games at Triple-A Iowa this season, Caissie is hitting .258/.369/.496, good for a 123 wRC+. He's launched 12 home runs and is working a 13.9% walk rate. He hits the ball as hard as anyone else in professional baseball, and he's been described as having "titanic power' on more than one occasion.

If it weren't for a stomach-turning 31.7% strikeout rate, Caissie would have all the markings of an über prospect.

However, the 22-year-old is blocked by Kyle Tucker and Ian Happ (and Seiya Suzuki, to an extent) in Chicago, and it's clear that he's deserving of a taste of MLB action. If that isn't going to take place on the North Side, perhaps it would behoove the Cubs to ensure it takes place elsewhere.

As Bowden writes in his poll analysis: "Caissie was the prospect mentioned the most by execs — and it wasn’t even close."

With Matt Shaw and Cade Horton graduating from prospect status this season, Caissie is the highest-ranked prospect remaining in the Cubs' system. He'd make for an impressive centerpiece in any blockbuster trade, particularly one for a much-needed No. 2 starter.

It'd be a shame to see the Cubs give up on Caissie — who has steadily climbed the ranks since being a teenage prodigy in the Complex League — before he makes his MLB debut, but the team is ready to win now. If this is what it costs to be a front-runner in the World Series conversation, then so be it.