The Cubs will exchange one outfield prospect for an additional on Monday, as ESPN’s Jesse Rogers experiences that Kevin Alcantara will probably be referred to as up from Triple-A Iowa and Owen Caissie is being despatched again to Triple-A. No additional transaction is required since Alcantara is already on the 40-man roster.
Alcantara made his Main League debut final September, showing in three video games for the Cubs proper on the very finish of the 2024 season and getting one hit in 10 plate appearances. This stays Alcantara’s solely massive league publicity, as he has spent the whole thing of the 2025 marketing campaign in Iowa. After hitting nicely in 35 Triple-A video games in 2024, Alcantara has saved it going this yr, with a .266/.349/.470 slash line and 17 house runs over 430 plate appearances this season.
An everyday on top-100 prospect lists for a number of years now, Alcantara was 71st on Baseball America’s preseason rating and ninetieth on MLB Pipeline’s record. Regardless of his strong numbers this yr, Alcantara really dropped out of each shops’ midseason top-100 updates, although each BA and Pipeline every nonetheless have the outfielder ranked fifth inside the deep Chicago farm system. The most important crimson flag is his 29.8% strikeout charge at Triple-A, as his energy potential and laborious contact means is mitigated the massive quantity of swing-and-miss in his recreation, and evaluators additionally notice that Alcantara is just actually productive towards fastballs.
It appears doubtless that Alcantara would’ve obtained an extended look within the majors by now if he wasn’t on a workforce so deep in outfielders. Between Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, and Seiya Suzuki (as a part-time OF and common DH) all staying wholesome and productive, solely 4 different gamers have obtained any time within the Wrigleyville outfield through the 2025 season. Utility gamers Willi Castro, Jon Berti, and Vidal Brujan every bought a handful of video games within the outfield, and Caissie made seven appearances on the grass through the 11 general video games of his first Main League call-up.
Caissie obtained 25 PA, and hit .208/.240/.375 whereas beginning six of his 11 video games. The dearth of enjoying time wasn’t a shock given the crowded nature of Chicago’s outfield, but the relatively fast demotion provides to the query about why precisely Caissie was even referred to as up within the first place. Alcantara brings extra defensive versatility since he can play middle area, whereas Caissie is a nook outfielder.
Utilizing prime prospects as bench depth isn’t precisely supreme, although the Cubs are considerably caught (if that’s the proper time period) between their twin needs of getting their minor leaguers play daily, and likewise having the very best lively roster attainable. As restricted as these cameos have been, giving Alcantara or Caissie some expertise within the massive leagues may very well be useful prematurely of their attainable inclusion on a playoff roster, or if an harm did come up to one of many Cubs’ outfield regulars.
