Young Outfielder Lands Top Ranking Among Marlins Offseason Moves
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The Miami Marlins made a handful of noteworthy moves during their offseason. With spring training now in full swing, it will soon become clearer just how well these moves will pay off. But of each transaction made, three stand out the most.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently ranked Miami's top moves in the offseason, and one of their young guns came in at No. 1: Owen Caissie. Expectations are already quite high for the budding star, but there's little to no doubt surrounding his ability to meet them.
Caissie Takes Center Stage
Caissie was acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs in early January, when the Marlins shipped out right-hander Edward Cabrera in exchange for Edgardo De Leon, Cristian Hernández and Caissie. If all goes according to plan, this trade package could pay off exceptionally well for all parties.
At just 23 years old, Caissie has already been turning heads, and now he has a massive opportunity to continue doing so in Miami. While playing in Triple-A, he slashed .286/.386/.551 with a striking .937 OPS and 22 homers through 99 games.
As Reuter noted, "The Marlins need offense in the worst way, so flipping controllable starter Edward Cabrera to the Cubs for a package built around young outfielder Owen Caissie made perfect sense..."
If he can translate his skills from the minors to the big leagues, he is going to be a force at the plate. This alone would pay dividends for Miami, considering its dire need for offensive power.
Outside of this trade package, Reuter ranked the acquisition of Pete Fairbanks at No. 2 and the signing of Christopher Morel at No. 3.
Although it's not a major surprise seeing Caissie come in at the top, his young age does put things into perspective—if he continues on this trajectory, he could develop into one of the ballclub's most valuable players rather quickly. Having said that, he's not in the clear just yet.
As many young stars experience during the first couple of years in professional baseball, the leap from the minors to the Majors is quite substantial and often presents obstacles when it comes to the bat. He is going to need to adjust soon and capitalize on opportunities early on, but the franchise appears to have the utmost confidence in his ability to do so.
At first glance, there seems to be no reason why this package wouldn't pay off, but things could always take a turn.
Maria Aldrich lives in the captivating Adirondack Mountains in New York where she can be found scaling cliffs, hiking in the High Peaks and paddling down local rivers. After graduating from SUNY Potsdam with a degree in Exercise Science and a minor in Wilderness Education, Maria began documenting her backcountry experiences through written stories. Over the years, she has found herself drawn to sports journalism and now focuses on MLB, WNBA, NCAA and NHL writing. She can be reached at mariaaldrich20@outlook.com.