Chris Sale took his first real steps back onto the baseball field on Monday. He ran without issue for the first time since suffering an avulsion fracture to his right foot back on February 27.
He was injured in an accident in his Arizona home. Although the nature of the accident hasn’t been made public, it’s not entirely uncommon for offseason activities to render players injured before or going into spring training.
Last season Derek Holland, a starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers, severely injured his knee shortly before teams started breaking camp. He injured himself by tripping over his dog n his own home. Unfortuntely for Holland, he missed three quarters of the regular season. These things happen.
The Chicago White Sox have been quite lucky with Sale in comparison to the Rangers situation last season with Holland.
He’s already thrown a batting practice session. Tuesday, Sale will take the mound for the first time to throw a normal bullpen session.
On Friday he is scheduled to throw 75 pitches in a simulated start that will cover approximately five innings. Manager Robin Ventura is more concerned about pitch counts and arm strength than about Sale’s foot.
“Once the adrenaline starts going, he’s going to forget about that [his foot].” Ventura said.
While there is still a possibility that he may not be completely ready to make his first regular season start, it was also reported Monday that he was so much better that he might even get a Cactus League start before the end of spring training.
Ventura praised the team’s medical staff but knows that from here on out it’s his turn to get Sale ready for the season, saying that it’s basically going to be like starting spring training over again for the left-hander.
“He’s pretty good on that number, of figuring out where he’s going to be, and the whole medical staff, it’s been a credit to them to get him to this point,” Ventura said. “From here on out, you’ve got to make sure you’re paying attention to what he’s feeling and how he’s throwing and all those things.”
That’s not bad news for the White Sox however, as they have off-days that make it so that they will not need a fifth starter until April 12th and not again until April 21st.
That gives them room to work with and who knows, at the pace he is on, Sale might be ready to make a regular season start by April 12th.
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