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Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects – #10 Touki Toussaint Scouting Report

By Benjamin Chase

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Mar 1, 2014; Melbourne, FL, USA; A scout measures pitch speeds with a radar gun during spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2014; Melbourne, FL, USA; A scout measures pitch speeds with a radar gun during spring training game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals at Space Coast Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

Touki Toussaint Scouting Report

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To get a good view of Toussaint, I chose six of his starts on the season, spanning a two month span from June to August. In the six starts, Toussaint went 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and a 15/22 BB/K ratio over 31 1/3 innings.

Toussaint is listed at 6’3 and 185 pounds, and he looks fairly slight, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s still within 10-15 pounds of that original weight. Toussaint has a minimal kick back to his wind up, with the main difference between the wind up and his stretch being the height of his leg kick. In the wind up, Toussaint brings his knee to letter high before launching himself toward the plate with a flurry of arm and leg movement. From the stretch, his knee gets to about waist-high.

One of the things you notice right away with Toussaint is that he is blessed with long arms and long legs. He uses this length to his advantage, and many have seen the ridiculous GIFs of his curve ball, which requires that incredible arm length to generate that huge break. The problem with that is that frequently, Toussaint can let his legs and arms fly seemingly haphazard through his delivery, which leaves his delivery frequently inconsistent. When he’s on, his landing leg is pointed to home plate and lands straight on with the plate, generating a great downward plane for his high-velocity fastball and good plane on his huge curve. When he’s not, however, his landing point can be anywhere from his arm side shoulder all the way to opening toward first base. That’s when his control gets very rough.

Toussaint has a fastball that runs into the mid-90s (I’ve heard reports as high as 98, but only saw 96 in the games I watched) with a ton of life to the arm side, much like a cutter. He compliments that with a change up that sits 79-84 and shows a lot of promise with some late sinking movement to it. The headliner, of course, is the curve. It’s a pitch that sits in the mid-70s with break that crosses up to three planes. The pitch is legendary already.

Next: 2016 outlook

Toussaint’s major issue at this point is all about his delivery. When he gets off in his legs, his release point moves from his very effective over-the-top delivery to a 3/4 and even lower delivery, rendering the excellent movement on his fastball nearly moot. The Braves working with him to be more easy and consistent with his delivery would be a huge under taking, but it could be incredibly worth it as Toussaint may have more raw stuff than any other pitcher in the system currently.

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