Major deal
Former Christian Academy star Touki Toussaint, left, shuts down the Marlins in his MLB pitching debut.
ATLANTA – Touki Toussaint, a former standout at Coral Springs Christian Academy, wants to lead other Haitians to the big leagues. He set quite a compelling example in his debut with the Atlanta Braves.
The 22-year-old Haitian-American broke into the majors with six dazzling innings , leading the firstplace Braves to a 9-1 rout of the Miami Marlins in the first game of a doubleheader Monday. Ronald Acuna homered and drove in three runs to make things easier for his fellow rookie.
Looking cool as can be on a sweltering summer day in Atlanta, Toussaint took full advantage of his temporary promotion to serve as the team's 26th player. He surrendered just two hits and limited the damage from his only serious jam to a single run.
The right-hander hopes word of his success gets back to Haiti, an impoverished Caribbean nation that has no passion for baseball and has never sent a nativeborn player to the majors.
“To be able to play on this stage, to be able to represent my country, it's definitely humbling,” Toussaint said. “Hopefully kids see that, go ahead and take a shot at it.”
Toussaint (1-0) was born in Florida but moved to Haiti just a few months later , living there for about eight years. He returned to Florida after his parents split up and gave baseball a try, though it didn't go well at first.
“I was terrible,” Toussaint recalled. “I had 24 at-bats and struck out like 22 times.”
He walked away from the game for about a year, focusing on soccer, but eventually returned to America's pastime. He took up pitching at a relatively late age, getting serious during his sophomore year of high school. He quickly blossomed into a top prospect who was picked in the first round by Arizona in
2014.
“You learn something new every single day, so it doesn't get boring,” Toussaint said. “That's something I gravitated towards. I love it.”
Toussaint was dealt to the Braves in 2015, one of several trades made by Atlanta to bolster its farm system during a massive rebuilding effort.
That effort is paying off big time for the Braves, who were a single percentage point ahead of idle Philadelphia at the beginning of the day and edged a little further in front leading into Game 2. Toussaint became the third pitching prospect to win his big league debut for Atlanta this season, following Mike Soroka and Kolby Allard.
Toussaint's proud mother, Kahaso Kiti, cheered from the stands and waited for him afterward outside the clubhouse at Sun-Trust Park.
“I can't even tell you how I feel,” she said. “He's my son. I'll always be proud of him. That's my baby.”
Toussaint's performance really resonated, given all the hardships so many Haitians have experienced. Even those who have moved to the Dominican Republic side of Hispaniola, the Caribbean country where baseball is wildly popular and has produced more than 700 big leaguers, face brutal discrimination that keeps most from pursuing their dreams.
Toussaint wants to make a difference beyond the field.
“He's adamant about that,” his mother said. “He's got enough people who know him and know of him down there.”