When the Rays selected high school first baseman Xavier Isaac in the first round of the 2022 draft, there were many in the industry who scoffed as their pick. After all, a high school first baseman isn’t exactly the most alluring profile. Add to it that Isaac was a hefty 240 pounds during his senior year, and many scouts questioned whether he’d be able to have the athleticism needed to be a professional ballplayer.
Isaac quickly put those worries to rest as he transformed his body as a professional, and has actually turned what was originally graded as well below average speed into a solid tool and has shown an adeptness as a base stealer, swiping 46 bases with an 85% success rate thus far over his minor league career.
Meanwhile, the tools that made Isaac a first round pick were quickly made apparent as he launched one jaw dropping homerun after another. Since making his debut in 2022, Isaac has a .235 ISO which is in the 98th percentile of 689 hitters with at least 1400 PA over that time.
Now that long road of power and progression has now led him to a mid-season promotion to Triple-A.
On a personal note, I (Adam) attended a game in Asheville in June 2024. If you have never been to the Asheville Tourists home stadium, just note that it is a haven for left-hadnded hitters as the right field wall sits less than 300 feet from homeplate and only stands at 36 feet tall (Fenway Park’s Green Monster is 37 feet tall). However, that wall could have been 400 feet from homeplate, it wouldn’t have mattered on that Sunday afternoon. Isaac stood in against Carlos Calderon and took the first pitch for a ball.
It was a hot Sunday after noon in Appalachia. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Fans in attendance were chatting casually, half paying attention to the game while fanning themselves with whatever appliance could provide the most cool air.
Then Isaac swung.
Every head turned at the loud crack of the bat. To this day, it might be the loudest contact I have ever heard from a ball being hit. The ball easily cleared the high wall in straightaway center field and could still be heard sizziling as it finally made it’s descent into a forrested area and then an almost equally loud crack was made as the ball made contact with a tree. Unfortunately, data for the homerun isn’t publicly available but I estimate that ball traveled at least 450 feet, if not more.
It’s a cliche to say the ball sounds different when Isaac makes contact, but it is just the truth when it comes to the slugging first baseman.
That homerun was just one of 70 that Isaac has hit since being drafted by the Rays but it came during a pivotal season. Isaac was looking like a possible elite talent during the Summer of 2024 as he was demolshing pitchers in High-A. In July, the Rays rewarded a then 20-year Isaace with a promotion to Double-A and all of the red flags that Isaac had so easily cleared in the lower levels came roaring to the forefront.
Over 133 plate apperances in Double-A in 2024, Isaac hit .211/.346/.349 with a glaring 40.6 K% and a 55.9% contact rate on all of his swings. Throughout his minor league career up to his promotion to Double-A, Isaac just strike out more than your average hitter but his offensive output was well worth the price of a few more strikeouts than usual.
Isaac was sent to the Arizona Fall League following the season and again showcased his tremendous power but also his susceptibility to whiffing. There were some tweaks made that will be addressed later in this article and it led to a decrease in strikeouts for Isaac during his return to Double-A in 2025. However, Isaac would suffered a major medicial issue during the Summer and would ultimately undergo surgery to remove a brain tumor, effectively ending his season and potentially his career.
Isaac revealed in November that he had underwent brain surgery to remove the tumor earlier in the year and that he had fully recovered.
Xavier Isaac has been a relatively polarizing name on and off of prospect lists for the last few seasons not just for his defensive profile but due to a powerful but lengthy swing that comes with plenty of whiff. Nobody has ever doubted the power; it’s easy 70-grade pop from the left side with some scouts giving it an 80. But for several seasons, Isaac’s swing-and-miss is what has kept him from advancing past Double-A.
Isaac has tinkered with different set-ups in the box over the last few years and even within this season. Injuries and his health scare last season have kept him from finding enough time to develop the consistency to execute any of his changes at game-speed; however, this year — and especially in the last month — Isaac seems to have found something that works for him.
Isaac’s underlying data is telling us that he’s figured something out:
MonthPAsWhiff%wRC+April7951.7%169May10043.8%152June9034.8%62July7642.6%142August8131.3%185We can see it took Isaac some time to get acclimated to game speed again in April after missing a large chunk of his 2025 season. May through July were an improvement period, but his 40% whiff rate across those three months doesn’t scream promotion.
Some of his improved whiff was the result of Isaac experimenting with abandoning his toe-tap and looking to make contact with two strikes rather than do damage.
— Ben Whitelaw (@benwhitelaw73) August 25, 2026Now, we’re in August and Isaac has found a way to cut his whiff without sacrificing his ability to do damage.
A low 30s whiff rate is unlikely to stay that way as he faces more advanced pitching in Triple-A, but even if it settles in around mid 30s and even high 30s in the majors, it will allow his power to play.
We can see the main difference in his swing from April compared to August is his how he’s more upright now.
This allows Isaac to use a smaller and more subtle load as he shifts his weight to his back leg before exploding forward. He’s still a big, strong guy, so this doesn’t sacrifice power in the same way it would for a smaller player.
While this is a minor change in terms of actual movement, it makes a meaningful difference. Fractions of a second matter when trying to put the barrel on the ball and this has helped him significantly improve his contact rate.
April 2026 (left) and August 2026 (right) pic.twitter.com/3owAsjydqz
— Ben Whitelaw (@benwhitelaw73) August 25, 2026Swing-and-miss will likely always be a feature and not a bug with Isaac, but he’s now in a place where it’s a manageable amount of whiff that doesn’t come at the expense of his near-elite power.
I (Ben) expect Isaac to continue to find success in Triple-A Durham, where his goal will be to get acclimated against spin, major-league velocity, and better command than what he’s used to seeing in Montgomery for the last few years. I don’t think this will be much of a challenge for him given his solid plate skills and pitch recognition.
Isaac is comfortable taking his walks, and now he has a swing that will make pitchers want to walk him.
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