AAP: Chris Sale

[Balta1701]

The White Sox made left handed pitcher Chris Sale their first pick in the 2010 MLB draft, taking him at #13.

 

 

 

For starters, here is his scouting report from the good people at Futuresox.com

Position: LHP

Born: 3/30/89

Ht: 6'6" Wt: 183

Acquired: Drafted 1st Round in 2010 from Florida Gulf Coast

 

Scouting report

Pending Sale signing, he will be a welcome addition to the weak group of left-handed pitching in the White Sox system. He saw a jump in his velocity after his freshman year and switched to a 3/4 arm slot. He was named best prospect of the Cape Cod League in 2009 by Baseball America. Sale has a low 90's fastball that has good movement and should be able to get a lot of groundballs against professional hitters. His fastball has been considered a plus pitch. The key to Sale's success is his plus change up. His change will allow him to get right-handers out and remain a starting pitcher. His third pitch is a slider which is average, but effective against lefties. Sale's control is very good. Two plus pitches and excellent control immediately makes him one of the best pitching prospects in the organization. His upside may depend on whether or not he can fill out to add velocity and if he can improve his slider. Regardless, he should be a pretty quick mover in the system. There are some questions about his durability due to his delivery. However, his control shows that he is able to repeat it.

 

Major League Outlook: #2-3 starter

ETA: Late 2012

 

Sale has been making a name for himself at Florida Gulf Coast for several years. In 2009 he was ranked as the top prospect in the Gulf Coast league by Baseball America. Prior to the 2010 draft, he was listed as the #4 prospect on the entire draft board by Baseball America.

FGCU’s Chris Sale was named the top ranked prospect in the Cape Cod League by Baseball America. Baseball America ranked the top 30 prospects for the talent-rich Cape Cod League and the top 10 prospects in 17 other summer college leagues.

 

Sale won the Cape's pitcher of the year award after tying for the league lead with four victories and topping the Cape with 57 strikeouts and 55 innings. He was also the East Division's MVP at the all-star game, where he required just six pitches to work a perfect inning.

 

In 2010, he was named Collegiate Baseball Magazine's player of the year after posting stellar numbers.

Sale's stock soared this spring. The junior left-hander from Florida Gulf Coast was named Collegiate Baseball Magazine's National Player of the Year recently after going 11-0 with a 2.01 ERA in 17 appearances and leading the nation with 146 strikeouts.

 

Former Collegiate Baseball Players of the Year include Stephen Strasburg (2009), Rickie Weeks (2003), Khalil Greene (2002) and Mark Prior (2001).

 

Sale pitched for the Loggers in 2008 and was named a South Division

 

All-Star. He advanced to the Cape Cod League last summer and was named Most Valuable Player and Top Prospect.

 

Here's a nice personal get-to-know him sort of story about him growing about 6 inches practically overnight.

[Balta1701]

Here is extensive video of Sale's pitching.

 

 

More video can be found here. Here's the scouting report from that same site.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Tall, lean muscle in arms and legs, narrow hips, long loose arms and wrist.

 

STRENGTHS: Hard, sinking FB primary weapon, 91-93. Hard SL, 87-88, good CH, 81-84, weapon pitch. Balanced and coordinated, good arm action, lands well, command average with room for development.

 

WEAKNESSES: Occasionally overthrows, opens up and loses delivery. Needs to continue developing downhill plane on all pitches.

 

SUMMARY: Should be three-pitch left-handed starter at ML level.

 

GRADES (Present/Future):

Fastball 50/65

Slider 45/60

Change-up 60/60

Command 40/50

Control 40/50

 

Overall Future Potential: 57

[Balta1701]

Here is :47 of him from MLB.com, and their scouting report.

Scouting Report

 

Fastball: Sale throws his fastball up to 94, sitting comfortably at 90-92 mph.

 

Fastball movement: It's got lots of sink, generating a ton of ground balls.

 

Curve: It's got a sweepy slurve break, a potential wipeout pitch to left-handed hitters. It has some lateness to it.

 

Changeup: It's a good pitch with a chance to be a plus offering. He uses it typically against right-handed hitters, and there's some action and life to it.

 

Control: Sale is a strike-thrower who doesn't hurt himself with walks.

 

Poise: It's a plus, all business on the mound, with nothing rattling him. He's got perhaps the best mound presence in the class.

 

Physical Description: Sale has a skinny, gangly, Andrew Miller-type body.

 

Medical Update: Healthy.

 

Strengths: Three above-average to plus pitches, outstanding mound presence and excellent command.

 

Weaknesses: His slot, low 3/4, isn't typical for a starter. His frame will lead some to be concerned about durability.

 

Summary: Sometimes good things come out of smaller schools. Sale took a strong Cape Cod League performance and carried it over into his junior season. With the chance to have three outstanding pitches, all of which he can throw for strikes, to go along with outstanding mound presence, Sale has developed into one of the better lefties in the Draft class. Teams will have to look past a less than prototypical arm slot for a starting pitcher, but with the way he's pitched, it seems likely a team will do that at some point in the first round.

[Balta1701]

Here's his list of FGCU accomplishments.

Junior: Earned BFC Outstanding Pitcher Award for the 2009 Cape Cod Baseball League Season after leading the league in strikeouts and innings pitched... Named top prospect in Cape Cod League by Baseball America... Earned Louisville Slugger Preseason Second Team All-American honors selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper...

 

Sophomore: Appeared in 14 games, making 12 starts… Went 7-4 with 104 strikeouts… Threw 89.1 innings with a 2.72 ERA… Recorded at least seven strike outs per start… Struck out 10 or more in three starts… Went six or more innings in all but one start… Had 12 strikeouts in eight innings and gave up only one earned run to earn his third win of the season against Belmont on Mar. 28… Threw a complete game, recording 12 strike outs against Stetson on May 15… Led the Eagles in ERA (2.72), opposing batting average (.246), innings pitched (89.1), and strike outs (104)… Second in the A-Sun in ERA and strike outs… Tied for second in the A-Sun in wins, and third in innings pitched… Earned A-Sun player of the week on Mar. 30 after a 12 strikeout performance against Belmont… Tied for 22nd in the NCAA in strikeouts… 32nd in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings… Earned All-Atlantic First Team honors.

 

Freshman: Second on the team with 21 appearances, all but one in relief… Finished the year with a 2-0 record with two saves… Threw 36.1 innings with 46 strikeouts and only nine walks… Had a 3.47 ERA and held opponents to a .250 batting average… Chosen to the Freshman All A-Sun team.

 

High School: 2007 graduate of Lakeland High School where he played under Coach Mike Campbell…21st round draft selection by the Colorado Rockies.

 

Personal: Criminal Justice major... Son of Marla and Allen Sale.

[Balta1701]

Link to full article

Seven years ago, he was just 5-foot-8.

 

Four years ago, a rookie Division I coach was “the only one who approached me.”

 

Three years ago, he told his family — sincerely and matter-of-factly — he was hanging up the glove. He just didn’t have the right stuff.

 

...

Sale came into this world weighing eight pounds and 15 ounces. He was 21 inches long.

 

From T-ball on, he was a baseball junkie, spending most days at the park playing catch or batting with Dad, who was an All-American swimmer and coached Sale’s Little League teams. But Allen Sale didn’t force feed the sport to his son. Allen said there’s a hole in a concrete wall of his house where Sale played catch with himself.

 

Sale was a bit of a natural, and by 11 had a pitching mound in his backyard, thanks to his mom’s construction company.

 

As a freshman on the Lakeland High junior varsity team, Sale stood just 5-8. But his junior year, he became bedridden and sick, and quickly grew three inches taller.

 

Sale had a solid high-school career and worked his way into the top-100 players in his age group.

 

Tollett was the only college coach to see what might be coming from the 6-5, 145-pounder, but the Colorado Rockies also had their eye on Sale’s potential, taking him in the 21st round out of high school in 2007.

 

Sale almost took the $100,000 signing bonus.

 

“I was 18 years old, and I thought that was a boatload of money,” Sale said. “I thought long and hard about it.”

 

Sale was more into girls than academics and even baseball, and that’s part of the reason Allen encouraged him to go pro.

 

“Education was a priority for my wife and I and also for our daughter,” Allen said. “It really was not a priority for Christopher. When I sat down with him, I said, ‘If you’re going to be committed to baseball and education at Florida Gulf Coast like you’ve been dedicated to education and baseball in high school, you might as well take the money the Rockies are offering you and head to Arizona.’

 

“We had serious reservations about his ability to go down there and make grades.”

 

 

....

Sale was an arrogant, somewhat undisciplined kid when he showed up at FGCU, rattling the campus with the music blasting from his truck.

 

Said former FGCU teammate Casey Coleman, a right-hander from Cape Coral-Mariner who has drafted by the Cubs in the 15th round of 2008 and has worked his way up to Triple-A Iowa: “Out of high school, maturity-wise, he came in with a little bit of cockiness.”

 

“Since I had been drafted, I was going to be a shoe-in for a starting position at this school,” Sale said. “But I quickly found out that wasn’t the case.”

 

....

Sale went 0-3 in fall intrasquad scrimmages. He had no command, even on fastballs. Desperate to raise the confidence of his project, Tollett put Sale in a situation built for success in the Blue-Green World Series that closed out the fall.

 

Sale’s team led by a run when he was sent in to finish the game. There were two outs and two on base. Tollett sent senior pitcher Jason Kiley, who had not swung a bat in four years, to the plate. Kiley promptly cranked the ball over the wall.

 

“He was humbled more than anyone I’ve ever coached or ever seen,” Tollett said. “He had the worst fall of anybody I’ve ever coached. You couldn’t script a worse fall. He didn’t handle it well. He said things like, ‘I don’t know if I can pitch at this level.’ ”

 

Said Sale: “I got hammered in the fall, absolutely hammered, by everyone. It was like I was slow-tossing the baseball. I was down and out, man. It was really bad. I’d never had two or three months of just bad playing.”

 

During Christmas break, Sale’s father talked him out of quitting.

 

Despite dodging Tollett in the weight room, Sale rebounded to make the A-Sun’s All-Freshman team after going 2-0 with two saves with a 3.47 ERA and 46 strikeouts against just nine walks.

 

COMING OUT PARTY

 

The breakthrough began in the spring of 2009 against Lipscomb and senior Rex Brothers, who would be the 34th player taken in the draft that summer.

 

Tollett called the sophomore to his office the day before. “This is going to be the Chris Sale coming out party,” he said.

 

“I remember it like yesterday,” Sale said. “I’d been having a good season up to that point, and we had talked a little bit about me starting on Friday nights. He told me there were going to be lots of scouts.

 

“I don’t think up to that date, I’ve ever been more amped for a start. It was fun.”

 

On April 17, 2009, Sale went eight innings, giving up just five hits while striking out eight and walking four as FGCU beat Brothers and Lipscomb, 7-1.

 

Sale went harder in the weight room and hit 91 mph on the radar gun. He finished the season 7-4 with a 2.72 ERA with 104 strikeouts against only 27 walks to earn first-team all-conference honors.

 

“We could tell he was much more mature,” Coleman said. “He handled himself well. Had a great mound presence. He always had a great arm, great stuff. But the key is not to get rattled on the mound.”

[Balta1701]

BA's draft summary on Sale:

13 13 Chicago White Sox Chris Sale LHP Florida Gulf Coast Fla.

An unsigned 21st-round pick of the Rockies out of high school, Sale has developed well at Florida Gulf Coast and gives the program a first-round pick in its first year as a full Division I member. He was hardly good enough as a freshman to get any innings but survived in a relief role thanks to his changeup, which he has always been able to throw for strikes. His velocity jumped in the summer after his freshman season, when he lowered his arm angle to low three-quarters. The switch gave his fastball and change outstanding late life, and he started hitting 90-plus on radar guns. He shined in 2009 showdowns against supplemental first-rounders Rex Brothers and Kyle Heckathorn, then broke into the big time by earning No. 1 prospect status in the Cape Cod League last summer. As a junior, Sale consistently has delivered for scouts, leading the nation with 114 strikeouts while showing excellent fastball command (12 walks in 83 innings). Sale's changeup grades as plus like his fastball, and his slider is a solid-average pitch that's effective against lefthanded hitters. With his low slot, Sale can get on the side of all his pitches, especially his slider, at times leaving them up in the zone. Some scouts are concerned about his durability, due to both his frame (he lost five to seven pounds off his 6-foot-6, 180-pound listed frame due to a bout of food poisoning in May) and upside-down takeaway at the beginning of his arm stroke. But his arm is quick, and Sale repeats his mechanics, as evidenced by his command.

[Balta1701]

Project Prospect has a ton of details on Sale, and concludes that they're more worried about his mechanics than impressed by his numbers. They think long term he winds up a closer.

The biggest problem, however, is a severe timing flaw in Sale’s delivery. Whenever his shoulders start to rotate – which is earlier in his delivery than most – the ball is not in a position to be accelerated towards home plate. Instead of being up, with his forearm vertical, the ball is still at, or slightly below, shoulder height. Late forearm turnover appears to be a significant predictor of future injury.

 

To put it simply, there is energy rushing through Sale’s arm at footplant that is not being used to project the ball towards the home. That energy doesn’t just go away, it gets transmitted into muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones. None of this guarantees a future injury for Sale; it’s possible he can withstand the added stress. But it does make it somewhat unlikely that Sale will able to withstand a consistent starter’s workload.

 

There are many factors that go into an injury. Rest and recovery time, genetic factors, diet, pitch counts, workload and dozens more. The average pitcher is likely to get hurt sometime in his career. But Sale’s unique mechanics appear to put him at a higher than average level of risk. Nothing certain, just elevated risk level. That level of risk can never reach zero, but if I were a scouting director or general manager and about to invest several million dollars in a prospect, I would want the level of risk to be as low as possible.

 

I do not know of another pitcher who has been a durable starter with a motion similar to Sale. Players who share the extent of Sale’s timing flaw tend to have injury riddled careers. The closest comparable I can think of, in terms of having similar mechanics, is Anthony Reyes (hat tip to Pat Hickey who first brough up this comparison in the Project Prospect forums)

 

 

Stuff

 

There are three things at a pitcher’s disposal: velocity, movement and location. If a pitcher has two of those things going at any given time, then he has a good shot retiring batters. At his best, Chris Sale can boast all three.

 

Fastball: Sale works predominately off his two-seamer, which sits 90-92 mph with late, sinking movement that should lead to a lot of groundballs. According to collegesplits.com, 61% of his batted-ball outs have come on the ground this year. Sale is an aggressive strike thrower with above-average command of his heater. He can touch 95-96 mph without losing much in the way of movement, but can only flash that sort of velocity over short bursts.

 

Changeup: Sale’s main off-speed pitch is a swing-and-miss changeup at the college level with a lot of movement. The change will register 81-83 mph, which is a decent speed differential from his fastball. Most changeups have value based on their deceit. A hitter sees fastball and swings but the lower speed throws off his timing. Sale’s changeup may be easier for advanced hitters to pick out because it has so much movement. The ball comes in on a slightly different plane than his fastball, possibly reducing part of its effectiveness against high caliber hitters.

 

Even if the pitch isn’t a slam dunk, Sale still commands it well and the speed differential plus movement give the pitch a high ceiling. It would not be a stretch to say that both Sale’s fastball and changeup have the potential to be true plus pitches.

 

Breaking Ball: Sale has experimented with both a curveball and a slider, with the slider being the more advanced. His curveball has big, loopy break and is easily identified by hitters. The slider is harder and has tighter break. Sale’s low 3/4 arm angle is more conducive to a slider than a curve, in general. Either pitch, but especially the slider, looks like it will be death versus left-handed hitters but may not be as valuable against righties. There is a chance the slider turns into a quality pitch, but it is currently below-average.

[Balta1701]

The background noise on these videos is loud. Adjust your volume down before playing them.

 

Chris Sale #1 - March 26, 2010 from Joe Hamrahi on Vimeo.

 

Chris Sale #2 - March 26, 2010 from Joe Hamrahi on Vimeo.

 

Chris Sale #3 - March 26, 2010 from Joe Hamrahi on Vimeo.

 

Here is the scouting report to go with those videos.

 

The very first thing you notice about Chris Sale is his body. The kid is tall, 6’ 6” tall, and skinny. He’s not unhealthy looking, but he could put on another 20-25 pounds and still be considered very lean. It’s no secret he’s been encouraged to put on weight. Apparently, his parents have been told to help bulk up the college junior as well. Sale’s huskier dad even wears a shirt proclaiming he’s living proof that his son will fill out. Still, despite weighing in at 183 pounds soaking wet, Chris Sale looks imposing throwing off the mound in the bullpen and even more so with his shorter teammates standing nearby.

 

Sale comes at hitters from a high three-quarter slot delivery. He has the ability to drop down and throw side arm, and some who have seen him claim he can even show a more regular three-quarter delivery.

 

The lanky left-hander has a very herky-jerky approach to the plate, and he tucks and hides the ball well. He’s deceptive and gives the illusion of many body parts flying around. Yet, his arm motion is smooth and clean, and he puts limited stress on his shoulder. I’d like him to use his legs more, but with physical maturity and strength, he should eventually be able to drive more off the core of his body.

 

On this night, about 75% of Sale’s pitches were fastballs…both the 4-seam and 2-seam varieties. The 2-seam fastball had much more life and tailed down and away to right-hand hitters and in to left-handers. The 4-seamer was flatter, but Sale was able to command both pitches very well. His fastball hit 93 mph once but generally sat in the 91-92 range. Some of the scouts talked about seeing him previously reach 95, but he never got that high on this night.

 

Reports of the Sale’s excellent changeup had me anticipating that pitch more than any other, but unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. Through the first four innings, I witnessed only two 75 mph changeups, and both were out of the strike zone. Sale didn’t seem very comfortable with the pitch and abandoned it until about the sixth inning. The more he threw his change, though, the better feel he appeared to get for the pitch. Still, I would have liked to see him mix in his changeup earlier on, especially with such a funky delivery.

 

Thankfully, as disappointed I was in Sale’s changeup, I was as equally impressed with his slider (more like a slurve). In fact, I felt that the slider-slurve was the most difficult pitch for me, personally, to pick up out of the hand of the left-hander. Sale threw the pitch between 75-85 mph and, with such a long arm span, it was nearly impossible to identify the spin of the breaking ball until it was already upon the hitter. Even more impressive than the actual break was the command with which he threw the pitch. I know some feel that his changeup is his true out-pitch, but on this night, I didn’t witness anything resembling solid contact against the curve-slider-slurve or whatever you want to call it.

 

Chris Sale demonstrated some impressive qualities on the mound on March 26, but none were better than his command and control. For such a tall pitcher with an unconventional delivery, he was able to spot his pitches extremely well and was around the strike zone all evening. After running the count to 3-2 on the first two batters he faced, Sale was never again really in danger of walking a batter.

 

Sale showed athleticism and agility and moved well off the mound while defending his position. His pickoff move to first base seems average at best, but a nice slide step from the stretch enables him to get the ball home quickly.

[Balta1701]

Scouting report from a Pirates scout.

Chris Sale topped out at 92-94 in his first three innings. He showed a tendency to overthrow and had excess lateral movement in his delivery.

 

When I describe his pitching motion as more lateral than “up and down”, I mean that Sale’s release point could be moved closer to the plate if he tightens the delivery up.

 

Over half of his 122 pitches in the game were thrown over the first three innings.

 

He changes his mechanics on his breaking pitch, and seems to struggle a bit with the release point.

 

Sale has great run on his fastball but commands it in the strike zone much better at 90-91 MPH than he does at 93-94 MPH.

 

Sale has a very good change-up and he can locate it anywhere.

 

His front shoulder flies open occasionally when his delivery gets too “lateral”, especially when he’s throwing the breaking pitch.

 

Sale seems to round off his balance point before loading his backside. In my opinion, he would be at 92-94 MPH more consistently if he gained more power from the backside. Sale could probably lengthen stride a little to keep front shoulder closed and centered longer.

 

With more core and leg strength on his 6’7”, 220 lb frame, Sale has a tremendous upside.

 

He struggled to hold runners and needs a lot of work on his pickoff move.

 

Sale’s fastball and change both have very good late movement.

 

As far as projection is concerned, I see Chris Sale as taking three years to get to the big leagues.

[Ozzie Ball]

Wow. Talk about information overload! Nice job.

[chw42]

Project Prospect has a ton of details on Sale, and concludes that they're more worried about his mechanics than impressed by his numbers. They think long term he winds up a closer.

 

 

 

 

That inverted W doesn't look good...

 

He doesn't have very good mechanics.

[Cali]

That inverted W doesn't look good...

 

He doesn't have very good mechanics.

 

Why isn't it just called an M? Haha

[chw42]

Why isn't it just called an M? Haha

 

I don't know...beats me.

 

His delivery reminds me a lot of Shaun Marcum's.

 

 

Edited June 8, 2010 by chw42

[BrenBlackwood]

Why isn't it just called an M? Haha

 

 

I wondered the EXACT same thing!! lol

[Balta1701]

Now comes a bigger surprise: the first- or second-rated college pitcher on most draft boards has agreed to terms for a bonus equal to MLB's bonus recommendation for his No. 13 slot a year ago: $1.656 million.

 

Sale will take a physical on Monday and likely will sign his deal on Tuesday. He's the highest-drafted player to agree to terms so far this summer.

 

Sale and Mississippi lefthander Drew Pomeranz were the two best college pitchers in the 2010 draft. In recent years, the top college pitchers who have set themselves apart from the pack usually have received major league contracts. From 2004-09, 11 college pitchers signed big league deals with an average bonus of $3.3 million and a guarantee of $5 million.

 

While Sale will get less money than anticipated, the White Sox will give him every opportunity to crash their big league bullpen, perhaps as early as August. He'll initially report to high Class A Winston-Salem, with an anticipated promotion to Triple-A Charlotte in mid-July. After spending this summer as a reliever, he'll work in the Arizona Fall League as a starter and get the opportunity to make Chicago's rotation in spring training next year.

Sale to sign this week.

[ptatc]

Project Prospect has a ton of details on Sale, and concludes that they're more worried about his mechanics than impressed by his numbers. They think long term he winds up a closer.

 

 

 

 

I'm extremely impressed with this analysis. The late forearm turn over as they call it, is the delayed external rotation in a biomechanical model. It put a great deal of stress on the shoulder as the excessive internal rotation forces the humeral head posterior in the shoulder and the subsequent external rotation needed for pitching forces the humeral head anterior. This extra bit of translation causes a gradual stretching of the shoulder joint and eventually loosens the shoulder. This in turn causes increased wear on the shoulder stabilizers such as the labrum, rotator cuff and ligaments.

 

His is not a bad a Strasburg's whose external rotation is further delayed.

 

[knightni]

So, does this mean then, that they will want to work on his delivery?

[ThunderBolt]

So, does this mean then, that they will want to work on his delivery?

I imagine this is something they'll start working on in the spring, not this year.

[chisoxfan09]

That inverted W doesn't look good...

 

He doesn't have very good mechanics.

 

Couldn´t working with Coop help his mechanics? Would he be considered a full time project by the looks of his mechanics??

[Balta1701]

Couldn´t working with Coop help his mechanics? Would he be considered a full time project by the looks of his mechanics??

Yes, but in general, you want to correct a guy's mechanical mistakes as early as you can, not later, because the longer you wait, the harder it will be for them to fix things and the more likely they are to get hurt anyway.

 

For example, Cooper supposedly spent time trying to help Peavy with his mechanics last offseason, and Jake was uncomfortable enough with it that it hurt his performances in April/May.

 

I wouldn't call hilm a "full time project" based on that though. As noted, there are a lot of guys who struggle with injuries despite good mechanics, and other guys who pitch 20 years with bad mechanics and get enshrined in the HOF.

 

They'll work on it, but if they think he's in ok shape or they think that he's getting worse as they make changes, they may well run with him as-is.

 

I think one of the best arguments that his mechanics are a worry though is that we got him at #13 when there was talk of him going in the top 5.

[balfanman]

I'm extremely impressed with this analysis. The late forearm turn over as they call it, is the delayed external rotation in a biomechanical model. It put a great deal of stress on the shoulder as the excessive internal rotation forces the humeral head posterior in the shoulder and the subsequent external rotation needed for pitching forces the humeral head anterior. This extra bit of translation causes a gradual stretching of the shoulder joint and eventually loosens the shoulder. This in turn causes increased wear on the shoulder stabilizers such as the labrum, rotator cuff and ligaments.

 

His is not a bad a Strasburg's whose external rotation is further delayed.

 

What ??? Wow, the bolded part really made my brain hurt!

 

Now the italics part is more my speed.

 

Just kidding Ptac; I really appreciate your medical knowledge and your information.

[ptatc]

So, does this mean then, that they will want to work on his delivery?

 

Many pitchers were taught this as kids. Especially on the West Coast where Tom House is based now. His philosophy has really permeated the baseball culture out there. This is an offshoot of his theories. This is a very difficulty thing to change in the biomechanics. It's not just a tweak it's a major overhaul. They would need to change the position of his forearm just before the cocking phase of his motion. This could change everything from breaking ball rotation, the velocity of his fastball, to the 3/4 delivery he has. My guess is they may try to change it a bit but they will mostly leave it alone because he learned it as a kid and he will be a totally different pitcher without it.

 

[MurcieOne]

Wow, the level of analysis in this thread is truly impressive. It makes me feel embarrassed to look back at how Jason/Myself/Others used to analyze prospects for Soxnet. This whole Soxtalk/FutureSox machine has become a truly legitimate source for baseball analysis, pretty cool to see. However, if you'd like hear about thoughts on the development of Anthony Webster and Jeremy Reed you can shoot me a PM some time.

 

Anyways, I hadn't really heard of Sale before the draft . . . should my expectations be tempered?

[Balta1701]

Anyways, I hadn't really heard of Sale before the draft . . . should my expectations be tempered?

Well, think of him as any top half of the first round pick. He probably has the stuff to be a top of the rotation guy LHP. He also could struggle with injuries, control, or have some of his stuff disappear. It was a good choice at the time, and now it's on to development

 

[ThunderBolt]

Sale confirmed that the organization has told him he will start the year in High-A with the Dash.