North Side Baseball's Chicago Cubs 2025 Minor League Hitter of the Year

[Jason Ross]

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

Depending on which prospect list you favor, the Chicago Cubs finished the year with somewhere between two and four top-100 prospects from their offensive ranks—players such as outfielders Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcántara, and catcher (or designated hitter) Moisés Ballesteros. The Cubs also saw other impressive performances, from positionless slugger Jonathon Long and shortstop Jefferson Rojas. Not everyone had their best season, but most of the Cubs' best prospects had solid seasons. Determining a winner was difficult, but there was one player who (in my opinion) made the most progress, on top of having the best season. 

---

Honorable Mention: Jonathon Long, 1B/DH
It's really hard to not give this award to Long, truly. He finished his campaign in Triple-A with a .305/.404/.479 slash line, good for a 131 wRC+. This, on its own, is really impressive, but it's when we go further into the data that the most impressive portions of his season become obvious. Not only did long strike out less than 20% of the time on the season, but he walked 13% of the time to go with it. 

Beyond a good approach, the batted-ball data Long posted hints at a ton of future success. Long was patient, didn't chase, and when he swung, he did damage, finishing in the 98th percentile for xwOBA. His barrel rate, exit velocity and hard-hit rate were all 80th percentile or better. Long has probably done all he needs to do in Iowa, and could be playing in the majors (for someone) by Opening Day 2026.

---

2025 Minor League Hitter of the Year: Owen Caissie
I went back and forth between Long and Caissie, but I came down on the side of the lefty-hitting Canadian. The two had similarly good offensive seasons, with Caissie finishing with a 139 wRC+ to Long's 131. Caissie struck out more on the top line, but hit a few more home runs. You can make a strong argument for either, but I think the development that Caissie showed as the year wore on is the deciding factor.

if there has been a knock on the big outfielder's game, it's been his low contact rates and copious strikeouts. Over his first two months, the hulking hitter was sitting at a 33.2% strikeout rate; this is just not good enough for someone who's had as much time in Iowa as Caissie has had (2025 was his second full campaign). After June 1, however, Caissie's strikeout rate steadily declined, sitting at a very good 23.9% for the rest of his time in Iowa. He saw a jump from a 105 wRC+ to a 165 from the first span to the second. This is sparkling; that's a true middle-of-the-order hitter. All of this would even culminate with the Canadian getting a small cup of coffee with the Cubs.

 

It's true that Long had long stretches of great play, but the transformation Caissie showed was impressive. We should be careful not to assume Caissie's strikeout concerns are in the past, as with the amount of playing time he had in Iowa, part of the forward leap could simply be figuring out the league better. Pitchers in the majors can't be figured out the same way Triple-A arms can. With that said, I think this type of improvement is key, and really gives you an idea that he may he the type of slugging corner outfielder the Cubs can trust in 2026 if they lose Kyle Tucker to free agency. 

---

What did you think of Owen Caissie's year? Would you have had a different winner? Let us know in the comments below!

View full article

[Victor Reichman]

I would like to see Cassie in RF instead of Tucker. With the money we save and avoiding the long term contract Tucker wants, an easy choice. He can share RF with Suzuki.

[Jason Ross]

26 minutes ago, Victor Reichman said:

I would like to see Cassie in RF instead of Tucker. With the money we save and avoiding the long term contract Tucker wants, an easy choice. He can share RF with Suzuki.

I wouldn't rather see Owen Caissie. I like Caissie as a prospect, but the likelihood he's in the ballpark of Kyle Tucker's 140 wRC+ is unlikely for a rookie season. He struggled with velocity at times in Triple-A and he's not going to add much defensively. We can safely assume most, if not every single rookie will struggle and his contact rates, even if they got better, will be a hurdle. 

I do think he can be a good MLB player, but I think most of the people who say they'd rather see Owen Caissie in RF now will not feel that way come June 1st  (I've seen how Cub fans have reacted to Pete Crow-Armstrong, Miguel Amaya, Matt Shaw and even the first stint of Ballesteros this year and it's never pretty). There very well may be a cross over point, where Caissie will be just as good of a hitter, but that's probably a 95% or better outcome. I also don't think that's going to come nearly as soon as many seem to think. And this is coming from someone who has always been on the high end of Caissie.