Touki Toussaint made a name for himself around Major League Baseball prior to making his MLB debut due to his high standing as a prospect in the Atlanta Braves system. But after a tough start to his career, the Braves dealt him to the Los Angeles Angels midseason this past year.
Desperate for innings due to a myriad of injuries across their pitching staff, plus a slew of inexperienced options, created a pressing need for arms in the Angels rotation. General manager Perry Minasian had to make a move to somehow provide relief in the form of innings, mainly because the offense was ice cold and games would quickly get away from the team.
Toussaint was brought over on July 4, joining the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees before being called up on July 30. He would go on to make his debut for the club the same day as his call-up, tossing four innings against the Texas Rangers allowing two runs on two hits, including a home run.
He would go on to carry a 4.62 ERA in 25.1 innings, striking out 26, but creating his own traffic by surrendering 19 walks.
Toussaint spent a good bit of time at the Major League level with his Angels teammates, developing solid relationships with the clubhouse, even going as far as to express his admiration for superstar Shohei Ohtani and his ‘one of a kind’ talent.
Unfortunately, the Angels would go on to designate him for assignment on Nov. 15, and he elected to enter free agency a few days later.
Touki Toussaint 2022 highlight
During his Aug. 10 start against the Oakland Athletics, Toussaint had his best showing as a starter for the Angels. Providing five innings of shutout baseball while allowing just two hits and punching out six batters. He did not factor into the decision.
But one of his unheard-of outings came on Aug. 30 when he put up five scoreless innings against the top-ranked New York Yankees offense after they mustered just one hit.
2023 outlook
Entering his potential sixth season in MLB, Toussaint latched on to the Cleveland Guardians shortly after the first of the year on a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Unless he is able to flip a switch in an uber-talented organization such as Cleveland, he could be looking to find another stop that isn’t in MLB.
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