Bodine, Isaac Make Waves After Promotions To Triple-A Durham

At the start of the 2026 Minor League Baseball season within the Tampa Bay Rays organization, there was no guarantee that first base prospect Xavier Isaac would find success again in professional baseball.

Isaac posted to Instagram on November 28, 2025 that he received life-saving brain surgery in July that sidelined him for the remainder of the season with the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, making his comeback to baseball in any capacity a remarkable achievement.

However, the 2022 first-round selection from East Forsyth High School in North Carolina didn’t want to just be a feel-good story; he wanted to become an impact player and move closer toward a shot at the big leagues.

Early returns didn’t favor that reality, as Isaac hit .237 in April and just .187 in June. After posting a .570 OPS, his last 34 games with Montgomery between July and August finally helped him turn the corner. On August 25, he and catcher Caden Bodine, Just Baseball’s No. 48 prospect and No. 4 prospect in the Tampa Bay organization, were called up to the Triple-A Durham Bulls.

With Isaac, the key has been a lower strikeout rate and higher walk rate, cutting his strikeout rate down from a career-high 33.3% in 2024 to 28.2% so far between Double-A and Triple-A.

As his strikeout rate has declined, his walk rate has soared from 13.3% in 2024 to 18.8% in 2026, currently in the 94th percentile in MiLB in walk rate. It rivaled what he did across a 41-game sample size in 2025, walking at a 19.4% clip.

His power has also returned, as he’s hit a career-high 27 home runs across both levels, showcasing a better hit tool and harder contact, sitting in the 99th percentile in exit velocity (97.7 mph), 97th percentile in barrel percentage (19%), and 98th percentile in hard-hit percentage at 71.4%.

Currently, Isaac is hitting .294/.442/.618 across 10 games with Durham, nearly an identical OPS (1.060) to what Bodine has put up in nine games with the Bulls (1.062).

Continuous Improvements From Bodine

Starting the 30th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft in Single-A Charleston to begin the season was likely a mistake from the Rays front office, but he’s moved up through the organization at lightning speed, not spending more than 37 games at any stop from Single-A to Double-A before his promotion to Durham on August 25.

He has been the poster child of consistency and productivity this year during his rapid rise to Triple-A, with his average at one stop not dipping below .316 and his OPS not dipping below .844, both in Montgomery.

Bodine’s bat-to-ball skills are as good as any player in MiLB, let alone any catcher in MiLB, while being one of the most aggressive hitters at the same time.

His swing percentage overall sits at 57.4%, currently in the 95th percentile in the minors, but his swing percentage on pitches in the zone and contact rate are even higher, with a Z-swing rate of 69.2% and a Z-contact rate of 91.7%.

Bodine is not only someone who doesn’t strike out, just 6.3% of the time through 520 total plate appearances this season, but someone who doesn’t walk much either at just 9.2%, letting his bat take over with a .345 average this year and 155 hits, a top-five mark across the minors.

When he swings at a pitch, it’s likely in the zone, he’s likely making contact, and he’s likely getting on base. While Bodine hit .367 in 259 plate appearances in his freshman year at Coastal Carolina, he’s sustained that level of productivity across a full professional season, his first full season in baseball.

That’s been exemplified in Durham, where he is currently hitting .364 in nine games with two homers, seven RBI, and four doubles. Not only is he making contact and getting on base consistently, he’s hitting for power too, sporting a .521 slugging percentage with 16 home runs and 97 RBI on the year combined.

It’s remarkable the level of talent that both Bodine and Isaac have, doing so at the exact same time at the same level of the minor leagues.

Between the two, Bodine has a better shot of getting a surprise September call-up this year, playing a position of relative need at the big league level in catcher. But both have positioned themselves in a great way to likely impact Tampa Bay in 2027, whether that be immediately on the Opening Day roster or in an early-season call-up.

Stats were taken prior to play on September 9th.