Chicago White Sox: Can Chris Sale win AL Cy Young in ’16?

By Stephen Forsha | Apr 4, 2016

Sep 24, 2015; Bronx, NY, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale (49) pitches against the New York Yankees in the third inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports /

Chicago White Sox left-handed ace Chris Sale had over 200 strikeouts last season, setting the new standard on the South Side when it comes to that feat. Last year, Sale was fourth in the final voting for the America League Cy Young award, but will this finally be the season he finishes at the top of the mountain?

In the ’15 voting, Sale didn’t receive a first- or second-place vote, but did receive three third-place votes, seven fourth-place votes and seven fifth-place votes for a total of 30 points, finishing behind eventual winner Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros, David Price of the Detroit Tigers/Toronto Blue Jays and Sonny Gray of the Oakland Athletics.

Sale in ’15 made 31 starts where he was 13-11, but more importantly, the left-handed ace led the AL with 274 strikeouts, a 2.73 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), 11.8 SO9 (9 x SO / IP) and a 6.53 SO/BB.

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He also had a 3.41 ERA in 208.2 innings pitched (one complete game) and 42 walks.

For a player who played on a team that didn’t get their pitchers a lot of run support a season ago, as the team finished in fifth place, he still pitched well enough to be an AL All-Star for the fourth consecutive season.

What really stands out about Sale’s ’15 season was a streak of games from May 23-June 30 where he had at least 10 strikeouts per start, a span of games that went eight consecutive starts. From May 12-July 11, Sales ha 10-plus strikeouts in 10 of 12 starts.

Also, in two consecutive starts from Aug. 21-26, Sale tallied 15 and 14 strikeouts, respectively, and the lefty finished with a WAR of 3.3, which was 3.3 points lower than it was in ’14 when he had a WAR of 6.6 for the White Sox.

But all of that was last season, and the question for this season is: can he improve on the rest of his game, get the close wins and jump up the ladder to win his first AL Cy Young award?

Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago had this to say about Sale as spring training came to a close:

"“Sale didn’t keep his offense out of the dugout for long with a nice crisp effort to end the spring. The left-hander retired the first five batters he faced. He struck out a pair in the fourth and limited Texas to four hits in his first four frames. Sale’s lone mistake resulted in a Hanser Alberto solo homer to start the fifth inning.”"

For the entire spring, Sale finished 1-0 with a 3.78 ERA as he worked on his pitches and got ready for the real season. He made three starts (16.2 IP), where he allowed four home runs, walked two but struck out 13 batters.

Sale is always a contender for the award as the past four seasons he’s finished sixth, fifth, third and fourth in the voting, so a win here or a lower ERA there, and he could be at the top of the vote come season’s end.

That brings us to Monday, being the season opener for the White Sox, on the road, against the Oakland Athletics, and just how is Sale being projected to pitch this season?

Baseball Prospectus has Sale finishing with a 13-9 record in ’16 in 30 starts (201 innings pitched. They also have Sale projected with an 11.0 K/9 mark and a WHIP of 1.02. BP also has Sale’s projected ERA being much better than last season, at 2.89 for the upcoming season.

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Those are solid projections for any pitcher, but are they Cy Young Award numbers? I believe he’ll have to have more than 13 wins, which I believe he’ll be able to achieve because the White Sox offense should produce much better offense than the back-of-the-pack numbers they had last year.

Sale has every capability to become a Cy Young Award winning pitcher this season, but it will take a little bit of improvement in certain areas of his game, and that’s saying something because he is a very talented pitcher … one of the best in all of baseball, AL or the National League.

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