Sale's excitement growing after healthy, successful spring

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- These past few years have been hard on Chris Sale. But the injury-plagued stretch created some perspective for the Braves pitcher as he prepares to enter a season healthy for just the second time since 2019.

“When you get to the top of the mountain and you get knocked down, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” Sale said. “I respect the game and appreciate the process a little bit more with where I’m at and with what I’m doing and with who I’m doing it with. This game doesn’t last forever. I’ve had the greatest moments in my life in this game, and I’ve had the worst moments in this game.

“Being able to balance that out, take it all in and respect that as a whole makes it more enjoyable when you can look at it through that lens.”

Sale’s excitement about the upcoming season grew as he progressed through Spring Training without any health issues. He completed his Grapefruit League season on Monday afternoon, when he recorded six strikeouts over three scoreless innings in the Braves' 4-0 win vs. the Twins at CoolToday Park.

It was a fitting ending to an encouraging spring for Sale, who has continued to feel the benefits of a healthy offseason. His ability to throw throughout the winter without any limitations helped produce a scoreless effort in three of his five spring starts.

More importantly, Sale will enter the regular season feeling both physically and mentally strong. This is something he hadn’t been able to say much the past four seasons.

“I’m still strong now, like I was at the beginning of spring,” Sale said. “Luckily, I didn’t really run into anything, no hiccups during spring, which was nice. That’s what all the hard work was for.”

Sale finished among the top six in American League Cy Young Award balloting seven straight seasons (2012-18) and closed out the ‘18 World Series for the Red Sox. His tenure at the top of the mountain ended the next year when he started to deal with left elbow discomfort that led to Tommy John surgery in ‘20. A right wrist fracture, a left pinky fracture, a right rib stress fracture and a left shoulder ailment also sidelined him over the past few years.

But the Braves were willing to take a chance on Sale having the ability to again be a difference maker. Thus, they acquired him from the Red Sox in exchange for Vaughn Grissom in December.

Sale will make his debut on Sunday when the Braves conclude a three-game series in Philadelphia. He’ll be wearing No. 51 for the first time in his career. This is in honor of his childhood idol, another lanky left-hander named Randy Johnson.

“That’s what I wore as a kid,” Sale said. “It was my dad and then Randy Johnson [in terms of importance] in my house.”

There’s no doubt Sale has some of that same aggression that fueled him through his greatest seasons. During a recent start against the Rays, he reacted to issuing a walk by bashing the baseball against his head. A few minutes later, when he was pulled because he’d reached his pitch limit with one out in the fourth, he flung open the dugout door and angrily made his way toward the clubhouse.

Sale was much more pleased with his efficiency on Monday.

“This is what we were looking for,” Sale said. “Had some things to work on early on. I feel like we were able to do that. Being able to have something like this for the last one was a good one.”