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Chris Sale back in the AL Cy Young Conversation?

By Josh Sippie

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Chris Sale, known affectionately as the Condor, is always a perennial Cy Young candidate for the Chicago White Sox. His uncanny left-handed motion has gotten him some serious respect on a team that’s not always so high up in the competitive sphere.

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This season got off to a rough start, as Chris Sale put up a 2-1 record with a massive 5.32 ERA. He only struck out 20 across 22 innings and gave up 13 earned runs. The majority of that damage came in an uncharacteristically awful game against the Minnesota Twins where he surrendered 9 runs in 3 innings of ineptitude. All of these factors had Chicago White Sox fans wondering what was wrong with their star man.

May was a different story, as Chris Sale got his feet back underneath him. Again, Sale went 2-1 but this time his ERA was halved at 2.68 and his strikeout numbers were back up at 46 across 37 innings. Chris Sale was looking much more like Chris Sale.

June has been even kinder to the left-hander. After shutting down the streaking Texas Rangers in a 7 inning, 3 hit, 0 run and 13 strikeout affair, Sale turned his sights to the upstart Houston Astros. In another 8 innings of pure dominance, Chris Sale gave up 5 hits, 1 run and struck out a massive 14 batters (albeit, striking out the Astros isn’t the most difficult feat in the world). Sale single-handedly spoiled the arrival of Carlos Correa. 

Now that Chris Sale is completely unhittable, as his swing-and-miss ratio bear testament to, it’s safe to say that he’s back in the Cy Young race.

Sale is gradually sneaking up the leader board in wins, ERA, strikeouts, WHIP and OBA. Believe it or not, his 93 strikeouts have him third in the league, behind Corey Kluber, who has started one more game than Sale, and Chris Archer, who has started two more games than Sale. Suffice to say, Chris Sale is arguably the hardest pitcher to hit in the American League as it stands.

As ESPN will tell you, Chris Sale had three straight starts where he totaled 20+ swings and misses. That’s impressive in and of itself. After the game against the Astros, he made it four straight games, making him the first guy to accomplish such a feat since Randy Johnson. If there is one thing we know about the Big Unit, it’s that he was one of the best pitchers of all time. Due to similar motions, Chris Sale often draws comparison to Johnson and as long as this streak of swings and misses is alive, it is easy to see why.

Next: Investigating Micah Johnsons curious demotion

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