There has been some hefty jockeying for the No. 1 spot among basestealers across the Minors as the 2026 campaign stretches deeper into its second month. Sometimes the best way to create separation is just to take off.
Tate Southisene seemed to be taking that sentiment to heart Tuesday as he racked up a career-high five steals to help spark Single-A Augusta in its 8-1 win over Columbia at SRP Park. It marked his 11th game this season with multiple stolen bases and gave him 32 overall in 38 contests, tops across the Minor Leagues.
Southisene grounded out in his first at-bat before slashing a single to center field in the fourth inning. Running on a breaking ball, as any basestealer will tell you, is always preferred, as it gives the catcher less time to nab a speedy runner. The Braves' No. 4 prospect immediately swiped his first two bags of the night after breakers from right-hander Michael Lombardi (KC No. 14) did catcher Hyungchan Um no favors.
The 19-year-old was at it again in the sixth, nabbing his third bag of the game as part of a double steal with fellow 2025 draftee Alex Lodise (ATL No. 5). Southisene ripped a single to left in the seventh, and with no runners on ahead of him, put on a show by swiping second without so much as a throw and then third after lefty Darwin Rodriguez tried to backpick him.
As Augusta broadcaster Noah Adcock-Howeth summarized:
“Southisense, creating chaos with the speed. Even on a mistake, he’s still in there!”
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Coming out of the Nevada high school ranks last summer, Southisene was seen as a player with solid tools across the board. But while the run tool has long been viewed as his best individual attribute, it has emerged as a legitimate weapon in his first full pro campaign.
Southisene didn’t run much in his 15-game cameo at the end of 2025, successfully stealing the three bags he did attempt to grab. Meanwhile brother Ty (CHC No. 25), a fourth-round selection of the Cubs in ‘24, was lighting up the same Carolina League circuit as Tate a year later. Ty finished with 41 steals across 91 games last season, a mark Tate is already closing in on with at least three more full months to play.
If Southisene can keep his prodigious stolen-base prowess up over the summer, it’ll mark the second consecutive year that a Braves prospect challenges for the MiLB steals crown. While Dodgers prospect Kendall George wound up running away with the honors last year, Patrick Clohisy (ATL No. 26) nabbed 79 bags, third-most at any level.
Speed, after all, isn’t exactly the name of the big league club’s game. Atlanta finished play Tuesday leading the National League with 67 home runs, but second-to-last in the league with just 23 steals.
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But the Braves didn’t hand Southisene a $2.62 million signing bonus as the 22nd overall pick last year solely to be a stolen-base threat. He was a standout of the club’s Minor League camp this spring, rolling that over into his first month-plus of game action with Augusta, where he has hit .276 with a .901 OPS. Southisene's .418 on-base percentage and 70 total bases rank inside the Carolina League's top 10.
Atlanta has consistently churned out pitching talent from its pipeline over the past few years, currently most notable for the contributions of JR Ritchie (ATL No. 2) and Didier Fuentes (ATL No. 3). But on the position player side, from Eric Hartman’s breakout (ATL No. 20) to strong performances by John Gil (ATL No. 10) to Southisene’s all-around barrage, the system has an up arrow next to it at the lower levels.