TORONTO — Owen Caissie FaceTimed his mother on Wednesday night to let her know he was going to make his major-league debut the following afternoon and figured he should also mention the pitcher he’d be going up against.
“I was like, ‘Guess who I’m facing tomorrow?'” Caissie said.
When the Chicago Cubs‘ top prospect revealed future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer was slated to take the ball, his mom twisted her mouth to the side, an expression that pretty much meant, ‘Good luck with that.’
It was a tough assignment, no doubt, for Caissie on Thursday at Rogers Centre, but it was also a special afternoon for the 23-year-old. He was born and raised in nearby Burlington, Ont., and grew up a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s the kind of script worthy of a Heritage Minute: A local kid making his MLB debut on Canadian soil with his parents, Jason and Michelle, in the stands, showered with cheers from the home crowd as he walks to the plate for his first at-bat.
And then, the plot grew even more exciting.
Caissie dug into the box and promptly smacked Scherzer’s first pitch — a high-and-away 93.5-m.p.h. four-seamer — into the left-centre field gap. Blue Jays left-fielder Davis Schneider gave chase and, despite taking a poor route initially, recovered by diving with his left arm fully outstretched to complete a spectacular catch that robbed Caissie of his first big-league hit.
“Schneider made a great play,” said Caissie. “It’s a welcome-to-the-league moment, I guess.”
Caissie batted fifth and was the designated hitter for the Cubs in the tight, 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays in front of 43,270 on a beautiful day that featured an open roof. He didn’t record a hit, flying out two more times against Scherzer before swinging and missing on three straight pitches against Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning.
Nonetheless, Caissie was sporting a large smile in the quiet visitors’ clubhouse following the contest.
“It was surreal,” he said. “I grew up watching the Blue Jays and I’m just super thankful that the Cubs could make my debut happen, [but also happen] in front of the Canadian people that I cherish so much.”
Caissie was selected by the Padres in the second round (45th overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft and in doing so became the highest-drafted Canadian outfielder ever. He was traded to the Cubs later that year in the deal that sent starter Yu Darvish to San Diego and has showed off an impressive bat during his time in the club’s system.
He slashed .289/.389/.566 with 22 home runs and 26 doubles in 93 games for triple-A Iowa this season and owns an .873 OPS across his five minor-league campaigns.
“Offence is his calling card and he hits the ball extremely hard,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell. “I think he’s going to hit a lot of home runs someday. He’s not a home-run hitter right now. I think he’s just a good all-around hitter with plate discipline.
“He had a wonderful year in triple-A and just kind of continues to get better,” added Counsell. “This is an exciting offensive player.”
Caissie has been in triple-A since the start of the 2024 campaign and the reason he didn’t arrive in the majors sooner is simply because the Cubs’ potent outfield trio of Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ have remained healthy all year. The reason for his callup ahead of Thursday’s game was because the Cubs needed a hitter after catcher Miguel Amaya suffered a gruesome ankle sprain in Wednesday’s game.
Counsell said it’s unclear what type of role Caissie would play going forward for the Cubs, who own a 68-52 record and hold the first wild-card spot in the National League, but noted that Caissie “earned this promotion.”
Caissie woke up in Iowa on Thursday morning before heading to the airport. He arrived at Rogers Centre around 90 minutes before the 3:07 p.m. ET first pitch and managed to squeeze in some quick swings in the batting cage to prepare for Scherzer.
Growing up, Caissie says his family didn’t make the roughly 50-kilometre drive to Rogers Centre too often due to traffic. As a result, he’d watch Blue Jays’ games mostly on television from home.
Thursday was entirely different, though, and Caissie quickly found the right word to describe what he was feeling.
“Ecstatic,” he said. “It’s every kid’s dream. And people are still chasing that dream. I’m just fortunate that the Cubs gave me an opportunity.”