The Angels announced a series of roster moves this evening, highlighted by the club’s decision to select the contract of right-hander Touki Toussaint. They also recalled right-hander Michael Darrell-Hicks to the majors. In corresponding moves, southpaw Jake Eder was optioned to Triple-A and left-hander Garrett McDaniels was placed on the 15-day injured list with left biceps tendinitis.
Touissant, 29 next month, signed a minor league deal with the Angels just before Opening Day. Once a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport with Atlanta after being selected in the first round of the 2014 draft by the Diamondbacks, Toussaint showed some promise in 2018 with a a 4.03 ERA and 3.78 FIP in his first 29-inning cup of coffee. In the six years since then, things have only gone downhill for Toussaint. The right-hander has spent his twenties bouncing between the Braves, Angels, Guardians, and White Sox organizations with well below average results at every stop along the way.
Since the end of that solid rookie season, he’s pitched to a lackluster 5.55 ERA with a 5.34 FIP. He’s struck out 22.7% of batters faced during that time but has combined that decent strikeout rate with a brutal 13.8% walk rate. More advanced metrics are equally skeptical of Toussaint’s abilities as a big leaguer, as shown by his career 4.88 SIERA. His most recent stint in the majors came last season with the White Sox, for whom Toussaint posted an eye-popping 7.43 ERA while walking 15.4% of his opponents. His stint in Chicago last year wound up lasting only 23 innings, but now he’s poised to return to the majors for a second stint in Anaheim.
More to come.