Tampa Bay Rays' Xavier Isaac, Tre' Morgan Make List of Top 10 First Base Prospects

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The Tampa Bay Rays' farm system is held up as one of the best in baseball, and their treasure trove of elite position players has a lot to do with it.
In the leadup to their fully-updated rankings across the league, MLB.com is revealing their top 10 prospects at each position. MLB Pipeline reporter Jim Callis tackled first basemen on Thursday, and Tampa Bay took up a healthy amount of real estate on his list.
Xavier Isaac, who the Rays took in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft, is ranked No. 4. Tre' Morgan, who was the club's third round selection in 2023, came in at No. 5.
The Rays are the only organization with multiple top-five first basemen. The Kansas City Royals' Jac Caglianone, the San Francisco Giants' Bryce Eldridge and the Athletics' Nick Kurtz took up the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots, respectively.
Josue Briceño of the Detroit Tigers was ranked No. 6. He and the five first basemen who came in above him will be a part of the 2025 preseason Top 100 Prospects list, which is more representation than that position has had since 2009.
Six first basemen will make our 2025 Top 100 Prospects list, the most in a preseason ranking since 2009 👀
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 16, 2025
Here's the Top 10 1B Prospects list: https://t.co/WhHtDu1NUL pic.twitter.com/q1QqQkPDQo
Isaac finished 2024 as the No. 36 overall prospect, good for third-highest among first basemen. He got leapfrogged by Kurtz, though, so it is unlikely that Isaac shot up much higher on the overall list.
The 21-year-old has appeared in 209 games since turning pro, batting .273 with an .877 OPS while racking up 37 home runs, 44 doubles, 155 RBI and 27 stolen bases. MLB Pipeline has his power tool graded at 65, his hit tool at 55, his arm and field tools at 50 and his run tool at 40.
Isaac reached Double-A for the first time in 2024, and he is expected to start 2025 at the same level.
Morgan, also topped out in Double-A last season before joining Isaac in the Arizona Fall League. The highly-touted LSU product has hit .333 with 11 home runs, 25 doubles, 74 RBI, 24 stolen bases and a .906 OPS across 114 career minor league contests.
MLB Pipeline has Morgan's field tool graded at 65, followed by his hit tool at 60, his run tool at 50 and his power and arm tools at 45. He was not in the Top 100 at the end of 2024, and he ranked No. 10 in the Rays' farm system as of the last update.
Morgan is viewed as a future Gold Glove candidate at first, while Isaac is the more traditional power hitter. They could both reach the big leagues in 2026, when aging All-Star first baseman Yandy Díaz could be on the books for $12 million if Tampa Bay picks up their club option.
Regardless of whether or not Díaz is in the lineup come 2026, Isaac and Morgan are likely to have taken over at first and designated hitter by the time 2027 rolls around. It may take a while to get there, but the wait could very well be worth it for Rays fans.
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Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.
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