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

Touki Toussaint 2016 Outlook

The Braves and Diamondbacks both limited Toussaint in his use of his incredible curve ball last season. The thought process was to force Toussaint to really gain confidence in his change up and work through his location of his fastball and change up. Those are excellent ideas, but frankly, any pitcher throwing only fastballs and change ups, no matter how good either is, will struggle, even at the low-A level with hitters being able to sit on those two pitches.

Toussaint’s struggles with control in his delivery seemingly improved when he was able to mix in his third pitch on a more frequent basis. The thing I’d love to see the Braves do is work a two-seam fastball into Toussaint’s repertoire. With his long legs and arms, he could produce tremendous downward plane on a sinker, and with the combination of the two fastballs, a change, and the curve, he could be untouchable.

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I had a thought in watching Toussaint more fully that I wanted to vet more, so I watched Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals. Their offerings seemed very similar to me, and when I watched more, it was even more understandable. Gonzalez has been known for his control issues, and his are mostly due to a lanky build that leads to inconsistent delivery. Gonzalez is only 6′, but he has arms and legs that are more akin to a guy who’s 3-4 inches taller, and controlling those long limbs has always been his bugaboo in the majors. If Toussaint can get his motion more settled, he could be a dominating force. I look forward to seeing how the Braves work with that motion and seeing him have more opportunity with his curve in 2016.