Prospects of Interest: What Bateman, Southisene bring Blue Jays in Gausman deal

The Toronto Blue Jays began an apparent sell-off ahead of this year’s trade deadline on Sunday night, dealing rotation stalwart Kevin Gausman to the Chicago Cubs for a pair of prospects.

Heading back to the Blue Jays in the trade are Chicago’s No. 13 and No. 21 prospects, per MLB Pipeline, Ty Southisene and Brett Bateman.

The duo fits right in with the type of player Toronto has prioritized in recent seasons in that they make a ton of contact and rarely strike out. Southisene is a 21-year-old shortstop who reached high-A this season after being selected in the fourth round of the 2024 draft out of Basic Academy in Nevada, and Bateman is a 24-year-old outfielder who has spent the entire season in triple-A.

In its immediate post-trade update, MLB Pipeline slotted Southisene as Toronto’s No. 17 prospect and slid Bateman in at No. 20.

There will be no replacing the professionalism of Gausman on or off the field, but with the 35-year-old set to enter free agency at the end of the season, the Blue Jays will hope to have found some talent to help their major-league roster down the road in Southisene and Bateman.

With Monday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline right around the corner, here’s a closer look at what Toronto landed for the two-time all-star.

Age: 24
Position: Outfield
Swings: Left | Throws: Left
Height: Five-foot-10 | Weight: 170 pounds
Level: Triple-A Iowa
2026 Stats: 82 Games | .312 AVG | 3 HR | 33 RBI | 20 SB | .430 OBP | .421 SLG | 17.1 BB% | 18.9 K%

An eighth-round pick of the Cubs out of Minnesota in 2023, Bateman has used his speed to make an impact on both sides of the ball in his stops at each level of the minors.

Bateman has 83 career stolen bases in the minors while also using his 70-grade wheels to “beat out hits and chase down balls from gap to gap in centre field,” per MLB Pipeline’s scouting report.

The 24-year-old’s strong running ability pairs nicely with his approach at the plate, where he rarely expands the strike zone and puts pressure on the defence by putting the ball in play.

Bateman entered Sunday ranked in the 85th percentile or higher among triple-A hitters in walk, chase and whiff percentage.

Where Bateman’s game is lacking is in the power department.

The left-handed-swinging outfielder has just three homers this season and six for his professional career. This season in Iowa, Bateman’s max exit velocity peaked at 105.7 m.p.h. — a number that would rank sixth lowest among qualified major-leaguers.

He also struggles to hit the ball in the air, carrying a 52.5 per cent groundball rate in 2026.

Despite some of those soft contact numbers, Bateman has actually seen his slugging percentage jump to a career-best .421 this season. The power production stems from the 18 doubles he hit for the Cubs, which is also the most he has hit in a single minor-league season.

Although he doesn’t bring any big-league lineage to the Blue Jays, Bateman surely grew up around the game, thanks to his dad, Keith.

Keith served as the head coach of the Augsburg University baseball team — an NCAA Division III school in Minneapolis — from 2004 to this June before accepting a position as the associate athletic director at Concordia College-Moorhead.

The elder Bateman coached three players who signed professional contracts and earned Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honours in 2005.

Before getting the coaching gig at Augsburg, Keith was a catcher at Bethel University in St. Paul from 1995 to 1998.

Age: 21
Position: Shortstop
Swings: Right | Throws: Right
Height: Five-foot-seven | Weight: 170 pounds
Levels: Low-A Myrtle Beach/high-A South Bend
2026 Stats: 66 Games | .306 AVG | 12 XBH | 35 RBI | 31 SB | .425 OBP | .372 SLG | 12.8 BB% | 11.6 K%

Much like Bateman, Southisene excels at putting the ball in play and using his legs to make a difference.

The 21-year-old, however, skews a little more to the extreme than his outfield counterpart. Southisene posted the lowest in-zone whiff rate of any Cubs prospect this season, per Baseball America, which has helped him walk more than he struck out as a pro.

Southisene has also been given the green light to run from Day 1 with Chicago. Over his two seasons of affiliated ball, he has stolen 72 bases while being caught just 14 times.

The five-foot-seven middle infielder’s contact-heavy approach also comes with a lack of power, as Southisene has yet to hit a minor-league home run.

He was initially assigned to the Arizona Complex League in 2025, but spent just one game at the level before being sent to Myrtle Beach, where he returned to start 2026.

Southisene then received his second promotion after 22 games at low-A this season, pushing his way up with a .745 OPS to open the year.

Shortstop or second base?

Southisene has spent most of his time in the minors up the middle, playing primarily second base in 2025 before moving to shortstop in 2026.

Time will tell where his long-term defensive home ends up, but MLB Pipeline wrote that the 18U U.S. National Team alum “has the instincts” to make the most of his speed and athleticism, and that he “compensates for his average arm strength with a quick release” at shortstop.

Southisene is just one of four baseball-playing brothers. His twin, Tee, is a pitcher at the College of Southern Nevada; his younger brother, Tate, is a top prospect in the Atlanta Braves system; and his youngest brother, Troy, is an Oregon State commit.

While they played together in high school, all three of Ty, Tate and Tee also shared the field together as members of the USA Prime National 17U team in 2023.

Tate was selected by Atlanta in the first round of the 2025 draft and has shot through the Braves’ affiliates, being recently promoted to double-A. Across three levels this season, Tate has 12 home runs, 18 doubles and 45 stolen bases.