Braves: Another Shot for Touki Toussaint to Show He Belongs
After four seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Touki Toussaint remains a bit of a conundrum and his time might be running out for 2021.
The Atlanta Braves currently have a problem with their fifth spot in the starting rotation.
And that’s not shocking, most teams do. But when a spot in the postseason is riding on every game these last three weeks, the Braves can’t afford to have many bad outings from their starters.
That’s exactly what they’ve gotten from Touki Toussaint his last couple of times out.
Against the Rockies (who he’ll face on Tuesday) on September 2 he last just 3 innings giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits with no walks and no strikeouts.
That was Coors Field, so you chalk that one up to elevation.
But then on September 8 against the Nationals, he lasted just 3 innings again walking batters and throwing 62 pitches. He only allowed 1 earned run, but that blew up the bullpen.
He was really good in August when he posted a 2.74 ERA in 23 innings with 20 strikeouts. But he was still walking too many batters with 11 in those 23 innings.
Touki went at least 5 innings in each of his four starts in August giving up 2 earned runs or less, which made you think maybe he had turned a corner.
As I wrote back in August, the metrics show that Touki was getting pretty lucky on balls in play.
You get that with sinkerball pitchers, sometimes the ball finds a hole and sometimes it doesn’t.
Braves: What to do with the 5th Spot
I think Tuesday might be Touki’s last chance to prove he can stay in the rotation. If he can’t make it past the third inning again, then I think the Braves have to consider other options in the fifth spot.
Drew Smyly would not be my choice — I’m done with him in the rotation.
The only real options at Gwinnett are Kyle Muller and Kyle Wright.
If they haven’t called Wright up by now — as he’s had a great season at Gwinnett — I just have to think they aren’t confident in his ability to get big league hitters out.
Muller has been excellent since getting sent back down going at least 5 innings in all five of his starts and giving up 2 earned runs or less.
He had a good run with the Braves earlier before getting exposed a little and just struggling with command.
Next. It's Not Over Yet. dark
But he’s who I’d go to next if Touki can’t get it together on Tuesday and put together a quality outing.