Toussaint spins a gem for Mississippi

After coming out of the 2014 Draft with much acclaim, it's been a tulmultous ride through the Minor Leagues for Touki Toussaint. Now in his fourth professional season, the Braves 15th-ranked prospect has settled into a role outside the spotlight as a productive member of the Double-A Mississippi rotation.
On Saturday night, Toussaint allowed two hits and a pair of walks over seven scoreless innings, striking out nine in the Braves' 4-0 blanking of Pensacola at Trustmark Park. The 21-year-old notched his first win in four Southern League starts, lowering his ERA to 2.05.

Gameday box score
The D-backs drafted Toussaint with the 16th overall pick in 2014 out of Coral Springs Christian Academy and he debuted at No. 77 on MLB.com's Top 100 Prospects list at the end of that season. He was dealt to the Braves, along with Major League veteran Bronson Arroyo, in a trade that sent third baseman Phil Gosselin to Arizona in June 2015.
The Braves now boast five pitchers among MLB.com's current Top 100 and have eight hurlers ranked ahead of Toussaint in their own top 30. He was promoted to Double-A at this year's Trade Deadline after going 3-9 with a 5.04 ERA and 123 strikeouts over 105 1/3 innings in the Florida State League, where he held opponents to a .245 average in 19 starts.

Toussaint took the loss in each of his first three starts for Mississippi, getting tagged for five runs over 15 innings while striking out 19 and issuing seven walks.
Against Pensacola, the right-hander retired the first six batters before allowing a leadoff base hit to Chad Tromp on an 0-2 pitch in the third inning. Tromp was immediately erased on a double play off the bat of No. 28 Reds prospectBlake Trahan before Toussaint whiffed Jesús Reyes to end the inning.

Staked to a 3-0 lead, Toussaint struck out the first two Blue Wahoos in the fourth and issued a four-pitch walk to top Reds prospect Nick Senzel before retiring Josh VanMeter on a groundout.
The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder got through a 1-2-3 fifth before Trahan started the sixth with a double and Arismendy Alcantara worked a one-out walk. But Toussaint was able to get out of trouble as Gabriel Guerrero went down swinging and Senzel popped to short.
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VanMeter flied to center leading off the seventh and Toussaint punched out Reds No. 21 prospect Gavin LaValley and seventh-rankedAristides Aquino to finish his start in 96 pitches, 62 for strikes.
Josh Graham gave up one hit and fanned two over the final two innings, finishing off the Braves' eighth shutout of the season.
Joey Meneses went 4-for-4 with a double and three singles and Dylan Moore homered, singled and scored twice for Mississippi. No. 17 Braves prospect Alex Jackson contributed a pair of singles and two RBIs.