Owen Caissie homers in Pirates’ blowout of fish

There was some expectation that this would happen after Liam Hicks was traded to Tampa Bay, but it’s still a bit of a surprise. Hicks was being used primarily as a designated hitter with Joe Mack entrenched as the catcher, so Ramírez will either be a short-side platoon at catcher or the designated hitter, or a little bit of both. The consequence of that would be that one of Griffin Conine, Heriberto Hernandez, or Owen Caissie will no longer be penciled in as the full-time designated hitter in the wake of Hicks’ trade.

Caissie has been a borderline mixed-league relevant fantasy outfielder, delivering top-75 range value in his Marlins debut, hitting .239/.297/.459 with 12 homers, 50 RBI and four steals across 246 plate appearances. The 24-year-old former top prospect homered twice during a three-game minor league rehab assignment and had left the yard three times in his final seven games prior to hitting the shelf with a calf strain back in early July. He was never been a huge power threat as a prospect, but he’s probably going to reach 20 round-trippers in his first extended opportunity at the highest level. That’ll work for fantasy managers.

It’s great to see the power from Caissie, but we know he possesses that in spades. Seeing him come back from his injury and command the strike zone the way he did is really nice to see. He was used as the DH in this game, so we’ll likely need to see him play the outfield at least once before he could be an option to be activated from the injured list.

Caissie is expected to play three games at Triple-A and then be evaluated from there, so he might return to the Marlins this weekend. In his last 20 games before getting hurt, Caissie was hitting .320/.368/.720 with six home runs, 11 runs scored, 15 RBI and one steal. He did still have a 21/4 K/BB ratio, and strikeouts might always be an issue for him, but he was making the most of his contact and could continue to provide power for the Marlins and fantasy teams down the stretch.

Caissie had been swinging in the cage without an issue but has now progressed to on-field batting practice. The next step would presumably be facing live pitching before potentially beginning a rehab assignment. Those rehab games could start as soon as next week, and he could be back in Miami by the middle of August if all goes well.

Caissie should be cleared to start a rehab assignment sometime in the next week assuming no setbacks. He was expected to miss 2-4 weeks when he was placed on injured reserve on July 9, so he should be back in late July or early August.

Caissie left yesterday’s game with calf tightness, so this wasn’t a major surprise. Caissie will likely be out longer than the baseline 10 days. This will give Griffin Conine more consistent at-bats against right-handed pitching in Miami’s platoon lineups. Caissie was hitting .239/.297/.459 in 246 plate appearances and should get his starting spot against right-handers back when healthy.

It sounds like a precautionary move since Caissie was replaced by Griffin Conine in right field to open the second inning. The 24-year-old rookie has hit .239/.297/.459 with 12 homers, 50 RBI and four steals in 246 plate appearances over 79 games in his Miami debut. He’s delivered borderline top-50 value among fantasy outfielders this season.

Ruiz has now been on the bench for two straight games as Heriberto Hernandez, Owen Caissie, and Jakob Marsee start in the outfield. This was always part of the risk when Griffin Conine came back from the injured list and filled the designated hitter spot. It seems like Ruiz will be limited to mostly starting against left-handed pitchers and pinch running for the time being.

It would be easy to say that it’s because the Rangers are starting a left-handed pitcher, but Tyler Alexander is just the opener for Kumar Rocker. Caissie has hit .171/.265/.439 in 15 games in Juene with three home runs and 11 RBI, but a 30.6 percent strikeout rate. With Griffin Conine returning on Sunday, the Marlins DH spot is full, so Caissie, Jakob Marsee, Heriberto Hernandez, and Esteury Ruiz will have to split time between the three outfield spots. Hernandez has a 160 wRC+ in June, and Ruiz has a 242 wRC+ in just 39 plate appearances, but has earned more time. That may mean more days off for Caissie.