Atlanta Braves Call Up: Touki Toussaint

After a thrilling win on Sunday versus the Milwaukee Brewers, the Atlanta Braves play their second double-header in a week and will be calling on yet another talented, young arm to make his major league debut.

Touki Toussaint is one of if not the most talented of all the pitchers that the Atlanta Braves have collected over the least several years of their rebuild. Touki was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014 with the 16th pick in the first round of the MLB Draft. The Atlanta Braves were able to pry him away from the D-Backs in June of 2015 by taking on Bronson Arroyo and his salary in what may be the best example of a team “buying” a prospect. Touki has made a slow, methodical rise through the Braves minor league system ever since. Now finally he will get to make his much-anticipated major league debut.

Touki has really torn up the minors over the past two seasons. He began 2017 in High-A where he allowed quite a few runs and actually had a 5.04 ERA, but for the first time in his minor league career, his peripherals looked outstanding. Touki had risen his strikeout rate to 26% and lowered his walk rate to 9%, both of which were career highs for him at that point. This also culminated in a 3.39 FIP, which was much closer to his actual production than his inflated ERA.

He got the call-up to AA later in the season where he dazzled some more with a 3.18 ERA and 3.69 FIP at the more advanced level. He then began 2018 in AA and quickly proved his mastery of the level with a 2.93 ERA to go along with a 3.51 FIP while increasing his strikeout rate to 29% and keeping his walks in check.

He was then called up to AAA, the highest level of the minors, and has dominated. Through 5 starts, Touki has pitched 31 innings with a 2.01 ERA and a 2.53 FIP. His strikeout and walk numbers are still in line with his recent numbers and he has not surrendered a home run yet at the AAA level. Touki has earned this start with his good work at the upper levels of the minor leagues.

Of course, the exciting thing about Touki Toussaint is his incredible stuff that his numbers are just now starting to match. Touki features a plus fastball that sits 93-95 mph and can touch 97. The pitch good arm side run that gets in on right-handed batters and tails away from lefties. His biggest struggles are in commanding his fastball and pretty much every part of his game stems from there. He is known for his hammer curveball which occasionally gets 80 scouting grades. As of now it probably slots in more as a plus to plus-plus pitch due to inconsistencies with commanding the pitch. When it’s on, Touki’s curve is probably the most devastating pitch in the entire Braves system.

Here is a video from 2080 Baseball of Touki in the Southern League All-Star game featuring his potent Fastball-Curveball combination:

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He also features a much-improving change-up which is beginning to get more and more reports of being an average or better major league pitch. He has good arm speed on the pitch and gets good, late movement from it. There is a chance that the change even develops into a third plus or better pitch in his arsenal. These are the pitches to watch for in today’s start as it will be fascinating to see how Touki’s stuff plays against big league hitters.

Touki’s biggest issue in the minors has been command. This will be the main thing to watch as he begins his big league career. Command will likely always be Touki’s biggest weakness but he is a very good athlete who should be able to improve his command and control to at least close to average. That should be enough for his stuff to play very well in a big league rotation. If he can make a major improvement in his command, then he even has top of the rotation upside, but that may be asking a little too much from him.

Touki’s future role is still very much in question. There is the potential that he could be an elite bullpen option going forward. His stuff and command could all play way up in a one or two inning role. For now though the Braves will see just how good he can be in the rotation. It was often thought that Mike Folytnewicz would one day have to move to the bullpen and now he is the Braves’ best starter. It may take some time for Touki to fully realize his potential, but he may eventually reward the Atlanta Braves patience.