Marlins OF Caissie Finding His Rhythm After Early Struggles

The game still seems to speed up around Owen Caissie at times in the batter's box, but Marlins bench coach Carson Vitale's tutelage is slowly turning the young outfielder into a dependable presence the Miami Marlins batting order.

The Marlins have struggled to push runs across the plate this season, despite sitting 10th in all of baseball in hits. While they're making contact, the hits aren't coming at key times.

With five RBI in his last three games, is Caissie becoming a bat that could help change that?

The latest stretch of production pushed manager Clayton McCullough to pencil Caissie into the three spot for the finale against the New York Mets. McCullough's move didn’t pay off Sunday afternoon, with Caissie going 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that he played a major role in the Marlins' second series win in May and first series sweep of the season.

Caissie, in his last seven games, has recorded five hits, including a double and a home run, while driving in five runs. Failing to reach base Sunday marked only the third time in the last 13 games that he was held off the base-paths. His strong play has boosted his batting average from .207 to .213 and his OPS from .612 to .635.

McCullough credited Vitale when asked about Caissie's improvement at the plate.

“Carson deserves a lot of credit for this,” McCullough said after what he called an “impactful sit-down” with Caissie.

Vitale helped Caissie understand the importance of slowing the game down through his between-pitch approach and a routine when batting. Those adjustments have played a major role in the increase in production over the last several days.

McCullough told reporters from the dugout on Saturday, “getting Caissie to think about what can you do between pitches, what kind of approach can you somewhat try.”

“For Caissie to start to take some deep breaths and build out a little more armor to be able to handle when things start moving fast,” McCullough said.

Caissie drove in both runs during the Marlins 2-1 win over the Mets in the series opener on Friday. When asked during a postgame radio interview about his improvement at the plate, Caissie said, "It's about having approach and consistency and sticking with it."

He would add that it will give him something to fall back on when he is struggling. 

This recent run at the plate is not the first for the 23-year-old outfielder from Burlington, Ontario. To open the season, Caissie recorded five hits in his first six appearances, including two doubles and six RBI, while posting a .306 batting average and a .964 OPS.

While he has been inconsistent this season, the progress has the coaching staff excited to see what the young outfielder can become and proud of the strides he’s made.

“We're so excited, right. And it's like he can control the strike zone, has power, has impact,” McCullough said. “So I'm happy for him that he's showing signs of growth.”

Before reaching the majors, Caissie was committed to play baseball at the University of Michigan. But after being drafted by the San Diego Padres in the second round out of high school, he chose to sign professionally.

The outfielder came over from the Chicago Cubs on Jan. 7, 2026. The trade sent Edward Cabrera to Chicago, with Miami receiving Caissie, Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon.

The club’s new outfielder gave the organization reason to believe he could become a major part of the lineup before the season even began. In five games for Team Canada during the World Baseball Classic, Caissie hit .412 with a 1.241 OPS and seven hits — numbers that ranked 17th in batting average, 18th in OPS and 10th in hits across the tournament.

While the past seven to 10 days should have many around the organization excited about Caissie’s emergence, the focus for the young outfielder remains simple: sticking to the habits that helped him regain his confidence at the plate.

Now, the next step is proving he can consistently produce offensively and become one of the answers to the Marlins’ struggles driving in runs.

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