Chris Sale is one of Major League Baseball’s most dominant pitchers, and he plans to be around for a long time.
The Boston Red Sox left-hander earned a 12-4 record last year with a 2.11 ERA. Sale was in the American League Cy Young conversation until he made two trips to the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. Sale fortunately avoided surgery and is expected to be at full health come Opening Day.
Despite his dominance over his last nine seasons, some believe Sale won’t last much longer due to his lanky 6-foot-6, 180-pound frame. But if you ask the 29-year-old, he knows what he has to do in order to maintain longevity.
“For me, I don’t think it’s mechanics. I think it’s consistency,” Sale told WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “You can have a guy that throws over the top but if he’s not repeating his mechanics over and over he’s going to get hurt. Pitching from three different slots. The front-side is bailing out. Legs aren’t strong. You don’t have a good core. I don’t care what kind of mechanics you have, you’re not going to last. You’re not going to have sustainable success.”
Sale pointed to his former pitching coach Don Cooper as being the first person to tell him to not change how he does things on the mound.
“I talked to a lot of strength coaches and my pitching coach, Coop, over there. He was one of the biggest advocates against changing anything,” Sale said. “If anything you’re staying taller and being a little more smooth, working back to front. Those kinds of things. But he would straight-up tell me, ‘No, you’re not changing.’ Coop was one of the guys who would always be very, very against (changing). He would always come to be and say, ‘What are they talking about?’”
Sale certainly will be a threat to batters this season — especially if he keeps up with his consistency on the mound.
