6 reasons Red Sox fans should be excited about Chris Sale
He owns the Yankees.
With the report of the Red Sox acquiring starting pitcher Chris Sale in a blockbuster trade, Boston baseball fans rapidly trying to learn more about the exciting new addition. The 27-year-old left-hander is a five-time All Star (2012-2016), and immediately improves the team’s pitching staff immensely.
Standing at 6-feet-6-inches tall, he brings an imposing presence to the Red Sox’ starting rotation. In his seven years with the White Sox, Sale went 74-50 with a 3.00 ERA and 10.1 strikeouts-per-nine-innings.
Here are a few other reasons why Sale will have Sox fans counting the days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training:
He’s dominated the Yankees: Against the eternal Red Sox nemesis, Sale has been outstanding in his career. In 10 games pitched against New York (seven of which were starts), Sale is 4-1 with a 1.17 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 53.2 innings.
He’s already in elite company, part I: He’s in a small group of players (55 out of more than 45,000) to make the majors in the same season that he was drafted.
He’s already in elite company, part II: Among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched, Sale has the third highest strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
He’s played for the “Red Sox” before: In the summer of 2009, Sale played in the Cape Cod League for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, going 4-2 over 55 innings with a 1.47 ERA. He was named MVP of the East Squad in the team’s game at Fenway Park.
His slider once caused Tori Hunter’s look of sheer wonder after striking out:
This:
Chris Sale’s college coach just sent me this. Says he’s so excited to join @RedSox pic.twitter.com/l3mThCWn1t
— Chelsa Messinger (@ChelsaMessinger) December 6, 2016
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