PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Last summer, Xavier Isaac's concerns were bigger than baseball.
As the Rays’ first-base prospect shared in an Instagram post in November, he had “life-saving” brain surgery in July. What he thought was dehydration turned out to be the result of a brain tumor that led to, as he put it, “the scariest moment of my life.”
“As soon as I found out that,” Isaac said, “I was definitely not worried about baseball.”
Now, Isaac is back in Spring Training with the Rays as a non-roster invitee, feeling healthy and getting ready for the season. He spent Friday morning working out and doing defensive drills at first base, a return to normalcy after an experience that put everything else into perspective.
“I'm just happy to be out here, honestly,” Isaac said. “Life was definitely taken for granted before then, and now, it's not. I'll tell you that. Every day is a blessing.”
Isaac politely declined to reveal some of the specifics of what happened last summer, saying it’s “not the time right now,” but he did share quite a bit about how he felt before the brain scan that led to surgery, how he recovered and how he’s preparing for this season.
Isaac, Tampa Bay’s first-round Draft pick in 2022 and the No. 9 first-base prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, had a delayed start last season due to a left elbow injury that limited him in Spring Training and relegated him to DH duties for Double-A Montgomery.
He played in 41 games and posted an .812 OPS, but Isaac acknowledged on Friday that he didn’t feel right. The issue was mental as much as physical, he said, but he just assumed everything was normal. After a brain scan last July 3, he realized it wasn’t.
“Mentally, I feel like I wasn't there last year, wasn't the same there, and it was something wrong -- and I did not know what was going on,” Isaac said. “It was probably that, and that's a big reason why.”
Isaac said the difference has been evident since he reported to Charlotte Sports Park for early workouts nearly three weeks ago. His Spring Training physical exam was better than last year. Even his eye test yielded better results.
As focused as Isaac was last year on his overall health and well-being, that has him optimistic better days are ahead on the field as well.
“It's crazy what I've been doing with a brain tumor in my head, so it's crazy what is going to happen after it has been removed. So hopefully everything is positive from there,” Isaac said. “Hopefully nothing goes down from there. I can only really see everything up from here.”
As soon as Isaac learned of his diagnosis, he said, his family drove to Montgomery to take him home to North Carolina. He had surgery a week later at the Duke University Medical Center, whose staff he credited in his Instagram post for giving him “a second chance.”
Equally grateful for his family’s care, Isaac stayed home for a few months after being released from the hospital. He traveled to Florida to check in with the Rays’ medical staff near the end of last season, then returned home for the winter. Isaac slowly worked his way back into the gym and baseball activities, but he wasn’t cleared to drive himself until December.
“That was one thing I couldn't do. I was really bummed out, and it's a privilege that people don't really take care of,” Isaac said. “It was good to spend time with my family. But I'm very happy to be back.”
You can still see hints of the surgical scar on Isaac’s head, but his hair has grown back to cover most of it. The only other indication that Isaac might be limited in camp is his workload, as the Rays are easing him back into action. He will get a bunch of at-bats in live batting practice and enjoy the feeling of playing defense, which he hasn’t done in a game since 2024, but the club won’t push him into Grapefruit League games until Isaac feels comfortable.
“None of us can imagine what he went through, his family went through. We're happy that he's in a good spot. Multiple people have said that he has come in here with a renewed outlook on life a little bit,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We're going to pace ourselves, and he's fully understanding of that.”
Still, Isaac made one thing clear Friday morning: He plans to start the Minor League season on time.
“Yeah, I'm not hoping to be in extended [spring training],” Isaac said, smiling. “That's the goal. I'm hoping to break camp, for sure, yeah. I'm going to be here for the live ABs, get the Spring Training games in, and then [I] should be good to break.”