At Florida Gulf Coast University, Chris Sale (standing 6-foot-6) was quite a big fish in a little pond.
A stellar performance during the 2009 season in which he went 7-4 with a 2.72 ERA earned him a summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League where he would get tested by the blue bloods of college baseball in the country’s most prestigious collegiate summer league.
In a sitdown interview with Red Sox historian Gordon Edes on NESN, Sale admitted he entered that summer knowing the competition was going to be a little stiffer than what he saw with the Eagles in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Of course, Sale more than held his own, earning the Cape league pitcher of the year award in 2009 after striking out 57 and walking just nine with a 1.47 ERA in nine starts.
He also got a preview of things to come, representing the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and winning MVP at the All-Star Game … held at Fenway Park.
See the entire conversation about Sale’s upbringing and college experience in the videos below.
