The Chicago Cubs have a bunch of exciting prospects at Double-A this season and believe it or not, 20-year-old outfielder Owen Caissie might be the most exciting one. Might be because there is a guy named Pete Crow-Armstrong still being amazing in center field and making adjustments at the plate as a young hitter, too, but what Caissie has been doing and has continued to do this year really has been one of the best prospect stories in the entire minor league system for the Cubs.

On Thursday night, Caissie went 3-for-5, with two more home runs. In the fifth inning against the Birmingham Barons, Caissie turned on a 1-0 pitch from right-handed pitcher Matthew Thompson and hit a very loud home run to right field. Turn up the volume for this one.

That solo bomb was hit at 114mph off the bat of Caissie.

Oh and he has power to all fields, too, because in the sixth inning Caissie swatted a two-run homer to straight away right field.

It’s not just that Caissie is putting up great numbers, it’s that he’s doing it as a 20-year-old in Double-A, where he’s facing pitchers who are on average 2-3 years old than he is.

There aren’t many hitters at Double-A who are Caissie’s age, but he’s by far the best one heading into June.

Among all players in the Southern League at Double-A, where the Tennessee Smokies play, Caissie ranks tied for second with 9 home runs, third in wRC+ at 151, second with a .928 OPS and seventh in batting average at .281.

At this point, Caissie should not just be viewed as a top-100 prospect later this year, there is a good chance that the left-handed hitting slugger may end up as a top-50 prospect from at least one publication.

I was upset with the Yu Darvish trade and honestly it still bothers me, but at least it looks like the Cubs did hit and might be hitting really big with one of the prospects in that trade package with Owen Caissie.

Other Double-A Notes

Left-handed starting pitcher Jordan Wicks has been awesome for the past month. I keep saying that he’s going to be promoted up to Triple-A any day now, but regardless, the lefty keeps dominating at Double-A.

Wicks pitched six innings on Thursday, his longest start in the minors, and he once again was nearly un-hittable. The left-hander allowed two hits and the lone run came on a solo home run. He struck out four and only walked one. Wicks now has a 2.40 ERA in 41.1 innings through nine starts with the Smokies this season. He has 48 strikeouts to 11 walks and hitters are only putting up a .190 batting average against him.

I have to look more into shortstop Luis Vazquez because I believe out of nowhere, he’s turning into a good overall player. I remember seeing him in spring training and he hit a couple bombs, but the 23-year-old has made a big jump at the plate this season.

On Thursday, Vazquez hit his eighth home run of the year. He’s now slashing .290/.330/.500, in 35 games. He’s been in the Cubs system since 2017 and before this season Vazquez has never posted an OPS above .700.

Oh and by the way, for fans and other writers that have known about Vazquez and have watched him closely over the years, Vazquez is considered one of, if not, the best defensive shortstop in the Cubs farm system.

Good to see prospects taking big steps forward in their development.