Just relax: After a slow start, South Bend Cubs outfielder Owen Caissie turns the corner

SOUTH BEND — It takes time to adjust to change, like Owen Caissie has had to do since joining the South Bend Cubs.

That was clear during Caissie's first month of the 2022 season for the Advanced-A, Midwest League Cubs. The 19-year-old Burlington, Ontario native hit  just .133, with an RBI.

As the Chicago Cubs' eighth-ranked minor league prospect, something had to change.

"I'm not going to lie," Caissie admitted recently. "I (was) off to a slow start."

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The hardest thing for a struggling player is to stay positive. So, to help relax, the speedy outfielder turned to books, specifically "Getting to Neutral" by Trevor Moawad.

"He talked a lot about staying in the neutral," Caissie said. "Russell Wilson is in it too. That's how he keeps himself not negative or positive, just right in the middle."

Caissie doesn't try to overact. Even during an 0-4 night, he tries to stay neutral and instead find solutions.

The San Diego Padres drafted Caissie in the second round (45th overall) of the 2020 MLB Draft. Prior to the 2021 season, the 6-foot-4, 190-pound Caissie was one of four prospects — along with starting pitcher Zach Davies — traded to the Cubs for pitcher Yu Darvish and catcher Victor Carantini.

"It's kind of weird," he said. "Because I was only on the Padres for like six, eight months. Pretty quick stint."

Caissie hit the ground running in his new organization. He was promoted from the Arizona Complex Rookie League after 32 games while batting .349 with six home runs and 20 RBI. His OPS was 1.074

In 22 games at low-A Myrtle Beach of the Carolina League, Caissie came back down to earth a bit with .233 batting average, one homer and 9 RBI.

His manager at Myrtle Beach was Lance Rymel, who was promoted to South Bend for the 2022 season.

"I think there's some trust there," Rymel explained. "That's a big deal when you have a player that's struggling like that. The trust needs to be there."

Rymel, 31, says he can relate to his players because of his age and that he went through the minor league system as well as a catcher.

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His advice to Caissie during the early-season slump when he had just six hits in all of April.

"Slow the game down," Cassie said. "Don't focus on the negatives. There's always another (at-bat) and another game. It's about repetitions and getting better.

"It's really hard to not harbor the negatives, but you got to recognize them. You can't just ignore them."

Caissie studies videos of pitchers he will face, breaks down his defensive technique and analyzes his swing.

"I look at Bryce Harper's swing, Manny's (Machado's) swing," Caissie said. "Any swing that has uniqueness to see what they do well and see what other guys do and try to combine and tinker a little bit."

Since the calendar turned to May, things have improved for Caissie.

"The last couple days, things have been 10 times better. My AB's (at-bats) have been way better," Caissie said. "It's about how you find your way out of it."

For the month he's hitting over .300, raising his season average to .238 with three home runs and 21 RBI.

During South Bend's recent homestand against the Fort Wayne TinCaps, the Cubs were down by five runs going into the bottom of the sixth when Caissie hit a grand slam. It was his first home run of the season, and it helped the Cubs come back to win.

"We know what he's capable of," Rhymel said. "First couple weeks haven't gone his way, but he's not pouting or sulking. He's getting to work. He's getting his routine, and it's just a matter of time."

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Cubs corner: Owen Caissie shakes off slow start in South Bend