Cubs Recall Owen Caissie, Option Kevin Alcántara
My dad often says, “Six one way, half a dozen the other,” and so it is with the Cubs’ revolving door at the end of the bench. Owen Caissie was in Chicago last weekend to fill in for Kyle Tucker, who decided to delay his IL stint a few more days, but now Caissie is back. To make room, the Cubs optioned Kevin Alcántara back to Iowa. The Jaguar got a total of seven plate appearances across 10 team games, even less than Caissie’s 25 PAs across 18 games in his first MLB stint.
The pair accounted for seven total starts between DH and all three outfield spots, with Caissie playing the corners and Alcántara patrolling center. Meanwhile, Willi Castro has gotten 61 PAs over 15 starts at second, third, and all three outfield spots in that same period. Four of those starts came in right as he replaced Tucker. Even though the two rookies have produced very little and Castro has been hitting better of late, it seems counterproductive to call the kids up just to bench them.
In the end, it’s really just a matter of giving them a taste of the bigs while limiting their time on the active roster in order to preserve rookie eligibility. But if the Cubs are truly looking at Caissie in particular as their right fielder of the future, a stronger possibility as they seem less and less likely to keep Tucker around, maybe they should consider giving him more run out there. And with Tucker unlikely to be activated on Tuesday, there will be plenty of opportunities to do just that.
Update: Caissie is actually starting in right field for Saturday’s game, which could be because he can’t possibly accumulate the 130 at-bats or 45 days on the active roster needed to exceed rookie limits. Perhaps he’ll get more playing time down the stretch for that same reason.
The Chicago Cubs today recalled outfielder Owen Caissie from Triple-A Iowa. In a corresponding move, outfielder Kevin Alcántara has been optioned to Triple-A.
Caissie, 23, made his major league debut on August 14 at Toronto and hit .208 (5-for-24) with one double, one home run and four RBI in 11 games with the Cubs. He is batting .286 (106-for-370) with 28 doubles, two triples, 22 home runs, 55 RBI, a .386 OBP and a .551 slugging percentage in 99 games with Iowa this season. At the time of his promotion, he was riding a six-game on-base streak since the start of September and had reached safely in 10 of his last 11 games (.326/.423/.512).
Alcántara, 23, has played in three games with the Cubs after making his season debut on September 2. He has tallied one hit and one walk in seven plate appearances.
The Cubs play the Tampa Bay Rays today at 1:20 p.m. CT at Wrigley Field in a game that can be seen on Marquee Sports Network and heard on 670 the Score and, in Spanish, on WRTO 1200 AM.
