Chicago Cubs Minor League Wrap: September 22

Baseball America named outfielder Owen Caissie as the Cubs’ Minor League Player of the Year. Despite only turning 21 in July, Caissie hit .289/.399/.519 with 31 doubles and 22 home runs in 120 games for Double-A Tennessee.

Only Iowa was in action tonight.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were bitten by the Louisville Bats (Reds), 9-1. The loss snaps Iowa’s eight-game winning streak.

Caleb Kilian started and took the loss. Kilian gave up a solo home run in the second inning and three runs in the third and Iowa never caught up. Kilian’s final line was six runs, five earned, on eight hits over 5.1 innings. Kilian did strike out eight and walked only one, so that was a positive.

Both Jeremiah Estrada and Brandon Hughes gave up two-run home runs in relief.

Iowa only had four hits tonight. Left fielder Cole Roederer scored the only Iowa run of the game in the top of the third inning on a ground out by catcher PJ Higgins. Roederer was 1 for 3. Higgins went 1 for 4 with a double.

Tennessee Smokies

The Tennessee Smokies will play game one of the best-of-three Southern League Championship Series at home on Sunday at 4:30 Central time. The series is a rematch of last year’s title series against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.