CHICAGO — When Cubs top prospect Owen Caissie was called up from Triple-A Iowa in Toronto last week, many fans hoped the hot-hitting outfielder would provide the kind of spark the scuffling offense was lacking.

He went 0-for-4 in his debut on Thursday, sat on the bench for the next two games and was not in the starting lineup for Sunday’s finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.

“In Toronto, I stated very clearly — we’ve got a pretty good group of outfielders here, and Owen’s got to cross that bar,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said before Sunday’s matinee. “We’re going to play the best guys every day.”

The “best guys” Counsell refers to are Ian Happ in left, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center, Kyle Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki in the designated hitter role. Three of those four have been in All-Star Games, and the fourth, Suzuki, had a case to be in it this year. Tucker, Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki all have an OPS north of .800 and have combined for 72 home runs and 227 RBI this season.

But those three specifically have been struggling since the Midsummer Classic – they entered Sunday posting a combined .652 OPS with 5 home runs and 23 RBI since the break.

And Happ this season has a .225/.324/.383 slash line (.707 OPS). Why not throw Caissie in the lineup and give, say, Happ a day off? Well, part of it is that the traditional stats don’t tell the full story of his season, Counsell and the Cubs believe.

Happ entered Sunday with a .261 expected batting average, per Baseball Savant, nearly a 40-point difference. His expected slugging percentage of .444 is in line with his career number (.443) and his mark from last season (.441). His strikeout rate is down from last year and his walk rate is up from 2024, too.

“Ian’s a really good baseball player,” Counsell said. “Ian’s had some bad luck this year. You can check that. He’s swung the bat really, pretty darn well.”

It’s the crux of the argument – do you sit a player who has run into some bad luck for a player with four big-league plate appearances? The Cubs have seen the struggles of young players like Matt Shaw and Crow-Armstrong firsthand, so can they afford those at a time when they’re trying to hang on to the top Wild Card spot in the National League that would ensure that they’re at home for a three-game playoff series?

“This is where baseball gets tough because there’s not much difference between Ian’s season last year and ‘23 and this year,” Counsell said. “So, then do you make a decision based off that?”

It’s part of the reason Caissie, who had a .955 OPS with 22 home runs in Triple-A before his call-up, wasn’t brought up to the major leagues sooner. Despite his success, there weren’t enough plate appearances for him in Chicago. That’s what’s happening now.

“Owen will be involved tomorrow,” Counsell said, referencing Monday’s doubleheader against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. “And this is why we wrestled with calling him up at times, because of the group of outfielders we have.”