Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on RHP Touki Toussaint
The Atlanta Braves overhauled Touki Toussaint‘s mechanics in the 2016 season. Is he poised for a big 2017?
Player Profile
The Atlanta Braves targeted Toussaint in a deal to give salary relief to the Arizona Diamondbacks by bringing on the contract of Bronson Arroyo in 2015.
Dany Gilbert Kiti Toussaint (nicknamed Touki) was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 16th overall selection in the 2014 draft out of Coral Springs Christian Academy in Florida. He was selected one pick behind his now-organization mate Sean Newcomb, who went to the Angels at pick #15.
The Diamondbacks sent Toussaint to their Arizona Rookie League team, and he only spent a month there before being pushed up to the advanced rookie league Pioneer League team in Missoula in spite of his AZL numbers not exactly being all that pretty.
Combined between the two levels, he made 12 appearances, throwing 28 1/3 innings, posting a 8.58 ERA, 1.98 WHIP, and a 18/32 BB/K ratio. His pedigree and ridiculous curve got prospect notice, however, ranking him #71 overall by Baseball America in their annual list and #98 by MLB.com.
He began 2015 with Kane County in the low-A Midwest League, and he had gotten off to a solid start in terms of ERA, but he was having similar issues with his control before he was traded.
On June 20th, the Braves traded reserve infielder Phil Gosselin to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Bronson Arroyo and Toussaint to give the Diamondbacks salary relief and bring Toussaint’s big arm into the organization.
The Braves assigned Toussaint to the same level within their organization with low-A Rome in the South Atlantic League. Combined between both organizations, he posted 17 starts, throwing 87 2/3 innings with a 4.83 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and a 48/67 BB/K ratio.
The Braves and Toussaint set to remaking his mechanics and approach this offseason and spring to allow him to better utilize his devastating curve ball and go deeper into games by controlling the zone better. He spent the entire season with Rome to work on these things in 2016.
The mechanical adjustments were slow to take, to say the least. He opened the 2016 season really heavily working on the mechanical end. The results were a 6.28 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and a 28/24 BB/K ratio in 43 innings pitched on June 1st.
The Braves let him work through the month of June with his new mechanics before really overhauling his approach. In June, he made 5 starts, throwing 29 innings, with a 2.17 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and an 11/32 BB/K ratio.
In July, he began working to really drill the bottom of the zone with his fastball and change early in the zone and use the curve as more of a put-away pitch. He took to the change in his approach quite quickly, though, as he really showed a whole different look in his last start of July against West Virginia, really pushing for weak contact rather than the strikeout and getting 6 innings deep.
In the time working on his new approach, he made 4 starts, throwing 20 innings, with a 4.50 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and 13/28 BB/K ratio.
Starting with that start on July 26th, he went on a tear to end the season, pitching 40 1/3 innings over 7 starts and a relief appearance (the final game to close out the season). He posted a 2.23 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and a 19/44 BB/K ratio.
He made one postseason start, and his new approach was in full display, as he went 8 strong innings, allowing only a solo home run among 4 hits with no walks and 6 strikeouts.
Really, after the mechanical adjustments were worked out, Toussaint was very good, even when you add in the time working on his approach adjustments. From June 1 through the end of the regular season, he threw 89 1/3 innings with a 2.72 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 43/104 BB/K ratio.
Next: Toussaint's scouting report