You can tell how much the Braves love a prospect by how fast they move him through the farm system. They’ve never been a team hesitant to test their young talent quickly, and they’re doing it again with 19-year-old Tate Southisene. Per Geoff Pontes of Baseball America, the 2025 first-round selection is being promoted to Double-A Columbus.

The Braves are promoting Tate Southisene to Double-A per sources.

— Geoff Pontes (@GeoffPontesBA) July 26, 2026

Even I’m a bit surprised by this one. Not because Southisene isn’t deserving — he’s been unbelievable — but for a prospect this young to take this big a step in his first professional season just isn’t something you see very often.

Southisene began the campaign with the Low-A Augusta Green Jackets, but it didn’t take long for the organization to realize he needed to face better competition. Over 51 games, he hit a hair under .300 with eight homers, a league-leading 36 steals, and a .929 OPS.

The promotion to High-A Rome didn’t go smoothly right off the bat. He did record four hits in his first four games, but overall, it took a couple of weeks for him to get his feet under him. That changed once July arrived. He’s now hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games, with five multi-hit performances over that stretch.

The combination of power and speed is extremely intriguing. Southisene is a terrific athlete, a natural in the batter’s box, and now he’s just a couple of steps away from the majors.

In a recent interview, Alex Anthopoulos referred to one prospect who was close to untouchable. Many assumed that was Eric Hartman, who just posted a 20/30 first half in Rome. But maybe we’ve underrated just how high the organization is on Southisene. He’s a year younger, and he’s the one getting the first call to Columbus — even though it likely won’t be long before he’s joined by Hartman and others.

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(Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire)