Chicago Cubs Minor League Recap: Owen Caissie and Cade Horton are on fire

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It was a week filled with losses for the Chicago Cubs affiliate teams, but there were some truly exceptional individual performances from players you want to see it from.

The Iowa Cubs struggled to a 2-4 record against the Buffalo Bison and the Omaha Storm Chasers. Next week they’ll have a series with the Columbus Clipper and look to get back on track.

Much like the Triple-A team, Tennessee only managed a 2-4 record this week against the Rocket City Trash Pandas and the Biloxi Shuckers. They’ll look to get back to winning baseball next week against the Chattanooga Lookouts.

In a wild turn of events, it was the South Bend Cubs that had one of the best weeks with a 3-3 record against the Quad Cities River Bandits, and the Lansing Lugnuts. They’ll try to make it a trend next week by continuing to beat up Iowa teams when they play the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Finally, at Low-A Myrtle Beach, the Pelicans went 3-3 against the Lynchburg Hillcats and the Salem Red Sox. Next week, they’ll start a series against the Augusta Green Jackets and try to maintain their recent dominance.

Hitter of the Week

Owen Caissie

OF (Triple-A Iowa Cubs)

.455/.667/.727 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 6/4 BB/K, 2/2 SB

Pete Crow-Armstrong has been great since getting the call-up to the majors, but there was a large swath of the fanbase that believed Owen Caissie had done more to warrant that opportunity than PCA.

It would have been easy for Caissie to let that perceived slight kill his confidence, but he hasn’t. He’s already been the Cubs minor league player of the week once this season and he’s on the list again with his incredible .299/.443/.464 season slash line.

The most important stat of the week for Caissie, though, isn’t one many people would know to look for. The problem he’s always struggled with has been his strikeout percentage, but this week, he walked more often than he struck out, and on the season, he’s on pace to strike out considerably fewer times than the 164 times he did it last year.

In an ideal world, we won’t see any more injuries in the outfield, but with Caissie waiting on deck to take that opportunity, there are worse things that could happen.

Pitcher of the Week

Cade Horton

RHP (Triple-A Iowa Cubs)

1 GS, 5.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5 H, 0 BB, 6 K

Cade Horton is a superstar. There are people who would argue he’s the best prospect in the Cubs’ system, and now that PCA is in the majors I can’t say that I’d necessarily disagree with them.

Earlier this week we made the case that while the Cubs could look to improve the rotation via trade with the Houston Astros, they may not need to due to the existence of Horton and his proximity to the majors.

As overmatched as Matt Mervis has looked with every opportunity at the major league level, that’s how overmatched Horton makes opposing hitters look. This year he’s carrying a 1.65 ERA with 18 strikeouts and just two walks through four starts.

Horton could enter the back end of a rotation that is already featuring Justin Steele returning from injury, Shota Imanaga looking like every bit of a Cy Young candidate, Jameson Taillon looking like a comeback player of the year, and Javier Assad who is no slouch either.

Honorable Mentions

We’re going to clump all three of these players together because they are all draft picks from the 2023 MLB Draft.

Josh Rivera

SS (Double-A Tennessee Smokies)

.417/.462/.833 1 HR, 1 3B, 2 RBI, 3 R, 1/1 SB

The Cubs drafted Rivera in the third round of the 2023 draft and despite the fact that he was a senior they had to go overslot to get him signed, that’s how talented he is. He struggled in 2023 but he may be starting to come around after this hot week. The argument could be made that he’s going to end up at second or third base, but he’s played all 16 of his games at shortstop so far this season in Tennessee so we shall see.

Jonathon Long

3B (High-A South Bend Cubs)

.563/.611/.875 1 HR, 2 2B, 8 RBI, 4 R, 1/1 SB

Long is a player we loved after the draft, during the 2023 season and today. All the dude does is hit. In 2023 he hit .274/.402/.571 in 26 professional games. This season at High-A, he’s hitting .271/.378/.457 with nine extra-base hits in 19 games. He’s not a third baseman long-term, he’ll end up at first base which will hurt his value, but if the bat continues to be this hot he’ll have a place in the big leagues.

Alfonsin Rosario

RF (Low-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans)

.333/.364/.714 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 6 R, 3/3 SB

Rosario may have been the highest upside pick the Cubs made in the 2023 draft outside of first rounder Matt Shaw. He was drafted out of high school in the sixth round and given an over-slot deal in order to sign. In 2023, he played rookie ball and did fine, but he couldn’t find his power in those nine games, with no homers and just one double. This year, in nine games at Low-A Myrtle Beach, he’s got two homers, two doubles, and has stolen three bases. There are shades of early-career Brennen Davis with this one.

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