Chris Sale didn't just learn a new pitch as he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He learned how to throw right-handed.
The Boston Red Sox ace had a lot of downtime while recovering and sitting out of the 2020 abbreviated season. Being apart from his teammates crushed him, but his son was in the middle of his own baseball season at the time, and there was no way Sale wasn't going to try throwing batting practice to his oldest.
The 32-year-old told "Ordway, Merloni & Fauria" about the latest development in his ambidextrousness Monday during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Telethon.
"I live down in Florida so we're outside all the freakin time," Sale said. "Basketball court, whiffle ball, I mean we definitely killed the time. And I've taught myself how to throw right-handed because my oldest son was right in the middle of baseball season. I can't not throw. And so I can actually get to about 90 feet with it. Just playing catch in the backyard, too. With a whiffle ball -- we play with the old school whiffle balls with the holes on half of it. I got a nasty right hand."
Unfortunately for Sale's son, the starter didn't hold back while pitching to him. That's no surprise though. Sale is a competitive guy, to say the least.
"I know he's 10 but he's gotta to learn," Sale said, only half-joking. "He was equally as relentless on me, put it that way."
We look forward to Sale's son being drafted by the Red Sox in about eight years. Until then, the pitcher looks to help lift his team to a strong playoff push.
