Sale opens camp looking to build on last year's success

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- After resuscitating his career on the way to winning his first Cy Young Award last year, Chris Sale has returned to Spring Training with something to prove.

¡°Being a Cy Young winner, I guess it's just something to put on your business card or whatever it is people do,¡± Sale said before Braves pitchers and catchers had their first workout of the year on Wednesday. ¡°But it didn't change anything for me. I still had to work out and prepare for a season. If anything, it probably just puts a bigger target on my back. So this is going to be a big year.¡±

It will be hard for Sale to experience a year as special as 2024 was, especially from an individual standpoint. Many had given up on him, including the Red Sox, who dealt him and $16 million to the Braves on Dec. 30, 2023, in exchange for Vaughn Grissom, who is fighting to prove he can be an everyday player for Boston.

A little more than a year since that trade was made, many are wondering if Sale can build on what he did last season, when he finally halted the maddening rash of injuries that limited him to a total of 31 starts over the previous four seasons (2020-23). He has repeatedly credited the rejuvenation to finally being able to complete his normal offseason preparations without any injury restrictions.

So was he able to do the same over the past few months?

¡°I honestly just tried to replicate last offseason as much as I possibly could, to be able to kind of show up here in the same way I was last year,¡± Sale said. ¡°So I¡¯m hoping to just kind of run it back and do the same thing.¡±

In other words, Sale didn¡¯t experience any lingering issues with the back spasms and discomfort that sidelined him during the regular season¡¯s final week and into the postseason. He quieted some concerns by throwing a pain-free bullpen session two days after the Braves were eliminated by the Padres in the NL Wild Card Series.

After resting for a few weeks in Atlanta, Sale returned to his family¡¯s residence in Naples, Fla., and began his normal offseason throwing program. He has already completed seven or eight bullpen sessions.

¡°It¡¯s great to know he¡¯s feeling good about things physically,¡± Braves manager Brian Snitker said. ¡°I know mentally, he¡¯s really good. He¡¯s been down here throwing. He understands where he¡¯s at. So that is good.¡±

Knowing where he was before last year will prevent Sale from allowing himself to feel content. He had seven straight top six American League Cy Young Award finishes from 2012-18 before Tommy John surgery and multiple fractures knocked him off the top of the mountain. Last year¡¯s incredible rise back to elite level earned him the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award and that previously elusive Cy Young honor, which was announced on Nov. 20.

¡°It was crazy, Sale said. ¡°Going from where I was to get to Nov. 20, which was a pretty crazy day for me.¡±

Sale expressed appreciation for the family members, teammates, coaches and the team¡¯s support staff who helped make last year¡¯s comeback so successful.

Sale won the NL Triple Crown by leading the league in wins (18), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225). He was the first NL pitcher to lead in each of these categories during a 162-game season since Clayton Kershaw in 2011.

Atlanta's ace also finished three strikeouts behind the Tigers¡¯ Tarik Skubal¡¯s MLB-leading total. Had he at least matched Skubal, Sale would have become MLB¡¯s first Triple Crown winner since Minnesota's Johan Santana lead the Majors in all three major categories in 2006.

¡°He wanted to take the ball and go every time,¡± Braves catcher Sean Murphy said. ¡°He was phenomenal.¡±

Sale spent the winter with his wife, Brianne, and their three sons, Rylen, Brayson and Camden. Last year¡¯s experience gave him an even greater appreciation for their support. But winning that Cy Young Award didn¡¯t have any impact on his responsibilities as a husband and dad.

¡°I¡¯ve got three kids waking up and eating breakfast every day,¡± Sale said. ¡°I¡¯ve got honey-dos too. If anything, [the 2024 season] just kind of solidified how special the people around me are. How much my family means to me, how much my teammates mean to me and everybody else involved.¡±