Yeah, it's just spring, but how good was Chris Sale?
New Braves Southpaw Excels in First Spring Start
It was one start. Hell, a spring start even. It's early spring so good pitchers are typically ahead of good hitters. The Pirates lineup included many projected regulars, but they aren't exactly an offensive force.
Yeah, yeah, I get all that.
But damn, did Chris Sale look good in a Braves uniform on Tuesday afternoon/ Over two dominating frames, Sale befuddled six Pirates. He got Oneil Cruz to foul-tip a slider into Sean Murphy's glove. After getting ahead of Bryan Reynolds with a 95 mph fastball and 87 mph changeup, he retired Reynolds via a flyout. Sale would fall behind Ke'Bryan Hayes next, but with a 2-1 count, Sale induced a groundout on an 87 mph changeup to end the first.
In the second, despite a prolonged rest as the seven Braves hitters faced a pair of Pirates pitchers in the top half, Sale was truly unhittable. Yasmani Grandal got ahead 3-1 and then swung through two consecutive fastballs - a 95 mph heater and then a 97.1 mph fastball for Sale's best velocity of the contest. Connor Joe was next and after three pitches, he headed back to the dugout. A pair of sliders around 80 mph put him into a hole as he looked at one and fouled off another. He swung hard at a heater, this one at 96, and got nothing but air. Finally, Edward Oliveras gave Sale a gift via a violation that cost him a strike. He only got to see two pitches - a pair of sliders he swung through.
All-in-all, Sale threw 25 pitches. A dozen sliders and nine fastballs were the majority of the offerings, but he sprinkled in three changeups and a sinker so that all four of his pitches got work. His slider had some big bite on it, averaging 2460 RPM or 200 more than his yearly average. This might explain that, of the four sliders hitters offered at, only one was connected and it was a foul ball. The heater, helped by the 97.1 outlier, averaged 94.9 mph on nine pitches. Four fastballs turned into whiffs with a foul ball and one ball put into play as the Pirates' only saving grace.
Seven whiffs. Eleven total swings. Five called strikes. Utter dominance.
It's just one measly unimportant start, but it was also a glimpse. This is why Alex Anthopoulos spent some of what little prospect capital he had to go get Sale. It's why the Red Sox missed Sale so much when he was injured. It's also why Sale was on the road to the Hall of Fame at one point in his career. This is what Sale can look like when he's at his best.
But as is the case with Sale, it's not just pitching at his best but also pitching as often as he can. Over the last four seasons, he has just 34 starts. The good news is that over half of them came last year. Nevertheless, he hasn't pitched 160 innings since 2017 - his first year in Boston. We simply can't ignore that and the Braves definitely won't be. Sale wasn't acquired to make 30 starts during the regular season. The Braves don't need that. What they need is for him to throw 150 innings - or less if need be - and be healthy for October when the Braves hope to have their foursome of Spencer Strider, Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Sale humming at the right time.
We're a long way from that. But on Tuesday afternoon, Sale showed us that the now-old veteran has some life remaining in that left arm of his. And it put the rest of the league on notice.
The 2023 Braves had Jared Shuster, Dylan Dodd, Michael Soroka, Allan Winans, Yonny Chirinos, and a 20-year-old AJ Smith-Shawver start 40 games last year and they still won 104 games. Imagine if just half of those starts were made by a healthy Chris Sale instead. Imagine if the Braves gave Sale the ball needing a win in a pivotal playoff game over Bryce Elder.
That's a good thought, isn't it?
And that’s why I’m a little ridiculous with this post. Okay, maybe very ridiculous. But the Chris Sale that pitched yesterday was pretty damn ridiculous.