The Red Sox kept their player-development churn rolling Tuesday, and the biggest name in the mix was Isaiah Jackson. Boston moved the outfield prospect up to Double-A for the final week of Portland’s season, giving him another step forward after a strong run in High-A.
Jackson is the player Boston landed from the Los Angeles Angels this offseason in the Vaughn Grissom deal, and the 2025 eighth-round pick has quickly made himself worth watching. The 22-year-old left-handed hitter built his case with both the glove and the bat, and the glove has become the calling card. His defense in the outfield has been described as elite, and that kind of skill gives him a high floor as a prospect even before you get to what he’s doing at the plate.
And what he did at the plate in High-A was plenty loud. Jackson hit .243/.340/.465 with 18 doubles, two triples and 21 home runs, leading Greenville in homers.
He also paced the club with 69 RBI and matched for the team lead in runs scored with 68. He added 10 steals, a number that figures to stay more as a useful extra than a centerpiece of his game.
Tuesday’s moves weren’t limited to Jackson. Right-handed pitchers Griffin Kilander and Aaron Nixon also moved up to Double-A, while utility player Tyler McDonough was sent back to Triple-A.
Nixon is 25 and has logged 24 innings in High-A this season split between the New York Yankees and Red Sox organizations. Kilander, 23, has already gotten a tiny taste of Double-A before, with 1 1/3 innings there, and has been solid in High-A.
McDonough’s move goes the other direction, though not because he stopped producing. He had already been in Triple-A earlier this year before getting bumped back down because of roster needs, and the numbers at the level were huge: a .310/.425/.621 slash line in 31 games. The 27-year-old switch-hitter can move around the field and has put together a career year with 19 home runs, plus highs in RBI (65), runs (65) and steals (26).
Jackson’s rise also underscores how Boston views the return from the Grissom trade. Grissom was never going to carve out meaningful playing time with the Red Sox, and the fit never really clicked.
He’s had an okay season with the Angels, while Boston clearly has better options across its infield. The organization already accepted that the Chris Sale trade did not break its way, and Grissom’s stint in Boston was derailed almost immediately by illness, weight loss and then injury.
Now the Red Sox have a young outfielder with a real defensive floor and enough offensive growth to make the ceiling interesting too. Whether he ends up as depth, a bigger big league piece, or even a trade chip down the line, Jackson has already shown enough to justify the investment.
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