As the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season enters its last month, few teams have failed to meet expectations like the Atlanta Braves. Three seasons after their championship run, Atlanta fans have been eager to make a playoff push beyond the second round. This season proves to be the most difficult path to glory the Braves have faced in recent memory, but the clubhouse may have an ace up their sleeve courtesy of a left-handed pitcher that has often been overlooked.
With the 13th pick in the 2010 MLB Draft, the Chicago White Sox selected a left-handed pitcher out of Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) — Chris Sale. An analysis of his pitching mechanics led some to hesitate on being sold on the pick. The six-foot six hurler takes a short stride during his windup, with his arm following out of sync before his upper and lower body move in opposite directions on his release. His mechanics cause extreme stress on his upper body, yet he had no injury history at FGCU and minimal injuries in Chicago.
Many thought Sale would be unable to sustain his durability if he took a starting pitcher role, but the skeptics were wrong as he finished sixth, fifth and third in the American League (AL) Cy Young Award voting in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons, respectively. After an All-Star selection in his last five seasons in Chicago, Sale was traded to the Boston Red Sox for the 2017 season.
Sale took greater leaps in his first season at Fenway Park as he collected a career high 308 strikeouts alongside a 2.62 ERA while posting a 17-8 record. The 2017 AL Cy Young Award went to Cleveland’s Corey Kluber with Sale as the runner-up. This was Sale’s only fully healthy season with the Red Sox. The 2018 season saw Sale take two trips to the injured list with shoulder inflammation, and close the World Series for Boston by striking out Los Angeles Dodgers star shortstop Manny Machado.
After etching his name into Red Sox history, Sale’s career sadly wound up on the injury list. His 2019 season was prematurely ended due to elbow inflammation. Sale contracted pneumonia prior to the league’s closure during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Two weeks later, the Red Sox announced Sale required Tommy John surgery and was out for the upcoming season. From 2021-2023, Sale fought to make it back, but injuries kept him from staying on the mound each and every time. It looked like the arm who had anchored a World Series title for Boston was a memory of the past. Still, Sale could not see himself as anything but a member of the Red Sox, reflecting on the experience with Rob Bradford of the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast.
“Why would anybody want me at this point? No chance. No chance. I just had it in my mind I was going to be (in Boston). … That wasn’t even in the realm of possibilities. [A trade] wasn’t even a thought that crossed my mind. It was just that I needed to do what I needed to do to help my team,” said Sale.
At the end of 2023, Sale was traded to the Atlanta Braves with a chance to revitalize his career. He returned to a strong starting pitcher role and stands as the top choice for the Natrional League Cy Young Award. A 2.62 ERA and a 14-3 record yielded Sale’s first All-Star appearance since 2018, a highlight in the disappointing Braves season thus far.
After years of injury, Sale is experiencing a career year with a new team in his 14th season. For many other pitchers, these compounding factors would have led to their retirement, but Sale and the Braves seem to have made an adjustment. Sale has not changed his basic mechanics and still places stress on his body, but his years of health in Chicago place blame elsewhere. On release, Sale holds the baseball at 5.16 feet from the ground, his lowest height since 2019. Decreasing height on release has been a common trend among MLB pitchers in the past several seasons after research on biomechanics of pitching have suggested increasing height of release may increase risk of injury to the throwing shoulder and elbow.
The 35-year-old relies on four pitch types; a four-seam fastball, slider, changeup and sinker. On the White Sox, Sale hardly threw his fastball, but this became his most often thrown pitch in Boston at about 40% rate. One can easily follow Sale’s path to injury as fastballs are notorious for their wear on the arm and often lead to Tommy John surgery, but the Braves have reduced his fastball rate to 38%.
Atlanta has given Sale the most four or more day rests in his career at 20 with the final month of the season yet to be played. Despite the personal reduced workload, Sale leads the Braves’ starting bullpen with 147.2 innings pitched and 191 strikeouts in 24 games started. His 2.62 ERA is the lowest among Atlanta’s qualified starters, which combines for a 3.87 team ERA to prove his value to this roster.