TORONTO -- Davis Schneider just welcomed Owen Caissie to the big leagues by putting the Canadian kid on the wrong end of a highlight reel.
Making his MLB debut at Rogers Centre in Thursday's series finale between the Blue Jays and Cubs, just up the road from his hometown of Burlington, Ontario, Caissie launched what looked like an extra-base hit in his first at-bat of the game. Schneider was racing back into the left-center-field gap, though, and at the last moment, launched into the air to make the spectacular diving catch.
It looked more like an NFL wide receiver racing back behind their head for a one-handed grab. Even on a team with Daulton Varsho and Andrés Giménez, Schneider might have just locked up the Blue Jays’ defensive play of the year.
There will be plenty more to come for Caissie, ranked by MLB Pipeline as Chicago's top prospect and the No. 45 prospect in baseball, who finished the day going 0-for-4 with a strikeout in the Blue Jays' 2-1 win. But what a moment this would have been, getting his first career MLB hit in his first career at-bat off the great Max Scherzer, a likely future Hall of Famer.
Schneider isn’t one to celebrate his own big moments, but his teammates on the field were either jumping into the air or standing, stunned, with both hands on their heads. All Caissie could do was slow his run and turn back from second base towards the Cubs dugout, now with his own “welcome to the Majors” moment.