Sale never shakes off his catcher, so a prospect better learn fast

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Serving as Boston’s catcher for the team’s top offseason acquisition’s first start was enough to stir the emotions. But things really got interesting for Sandy León when Chris Sale approached him before his 2017 season debut and reminded him he doesn’t shake off catchers.

“I was terrified,” León said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ Normally, they all shake. Normally, at some point when we put the fingers down they say, ‘No.’”

No shake? No problem for Sale, who tossed seven scoreless innings when he worked with León for the first time back on April 5, 2017. This was the start of something special. The elite pitcher posted a 2.79 ERA over the 68 games he worked with the veteran catcher for Boston from '17-19.

León has worked 435 2/3 innings with Sale. The only catcher to work with the lefty more was Sale’s former White Sox teammate Tyler Flowers (552 innings). So like when Eddie Pérez talks about Greg Maddux, there’s reason to listen when León speaks about the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner.

“I’m going to say he was my favorite pitcher to ever catch,” León said, stressing the added satisfaction that comes with fulfilling the challenge of making the preparations necessary to call the best game possible for Sale.

As Sale prepares to build on his excellent first season with Atlanta, León is in Braves camp to prepare for his 19th professional season and to continue his mentorship of Atlanta’s top prospect Drake Baldwin. The two catchers spent a lot of time together with Triple-A Gwinnett last year.

With Sean Murphy slated to begin the upcoming season on the injured list, there’s a strong possibility Baldwin will be behind the plate when Sale makes his expected Opening Day start against the Padres. The Braves have provided a clue by putting Baldwin behind the plate for both of Sale’s past two Spring Training starts.

Sale allowed four runs over 3 1/3 innings in the Braves' 4-3 loss to the Rays on Monday. Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer against a hanging slider in the third inning, and Danny Jansen’s double helped account for two more runs in the fourth.

Fortunately, this is the time of year when results take a back seat to things like getting further acquainted with Baldwin, who has learned more about Sale through his regular conversations with León.

“There were some situations where I was like, ‘That was the perfect thing to do and at the right time,’” Sale said. “It was [a 2-1 count] and I flung a couple balls and lost a couple pitches. In that situation, he went with a slider and that’s a good pitch to get me back going again. For him to be able to recognize that with just two games under his belt was big.”

Why doesn’t Sale shake off catchers? This response he gave last year was pretty hilarious.

“In high school, your coach calls the pitches,” Sale said. “You get to college and I dare you to shake off your college coach. I’d still be running, I think. Then, I got to the big leagues and my first catcher was A.J. Pierzynski. I’ll let y’all figure that one out.”

Or, from the catcher’s perspective, it has to do with Sale’s confidence in both his stuff and command.

“I told [Baldwin], ‘Whatever you put down, he’s going [to] throw that pitch and he’s going to execute it,’” León said. “It’s scary when we know he’s not going to shake. But when you get behind the plate and you see his stuff and the way he competes, it’s going to be easy, because you know he’s going to throw everything with conviction.”

Long after being the rookie introduced to Pierzynski in Chicago, Sale is constructing what could still be a Hall of Fame career. The lefty, who will turn 36 on March 30, would have likely been a Cooperstown cinch had injuries not limited him to just 151 innings from 2020-23. He finished top six in American League Cy Young Award voting over seven straight seasons (2012-18) and then highlighted last year’s great comeback with his first Cy Young Award.

From 2012-18, Sale ranked third among all qualified pitchers with a 2.91 ERA, trailing only Clayton Kershaw (2.14) and Jacob deGrom (2.67), and second among all pitchers with 1,678 strikeouts, trailing only Max Scherzer (1,851).

Then after many closed the book on his excellence, Sale regained his health last year and won the National League’s Triple Crown, leading the Senior Circuit in wins (18), strikeouts (225) and ERA (2.38).

“I was impressed by the year he had, but for me it was kind of normal,” León said.

That’s a pretty impressive compliment considering what normal was when these two worked together in Boston.