Chris Sale & Snoop: A winning combo!

White Sox pitcher Chris Sale was an All-Star this season, yet for some reason he is still one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball. As a converted reliever he seems to get little respect because he is just that, a converted reliever. In his first season as a starter, he has become more dominant than he was in his previous two seasons in the White Sox pen and a big reason why the White Sox are currently within one game of first place in the AL Central.

In 21 relief appearances in 2010, he had a 1.93 ERA but a red-flag raising 10.9% walk rate. According to Fangraphs, 10.9% would be categorized as “awful.” His “stuff” was filthy enough that he struck out almost 35% of the batters he faced in that season and only yielded opposing batters to a .183 batting average. His numbers last season were equally dominant for a relief pitcher, but the one concern for the White Sox was the walk rate hovering near 10%.

Sale’s conversion to a starter this season has made the Sox seem incredibly wise because he has been even better than he previously was. Ultimately, they can thank a slightly altered approach by Sale for his success. This season Sale has thrown fastballs and sliders much less than before, and he has perfected a devastating change-up that he is throwing twice as much as he did before. As is natural with relievers making the switch to a starter, he has taken an average of 3 MPH off of all of his pitches and they have been equally or more effective than before.

By trimming velocity of his pitches he is becoming much more accurate. His walk rate is a full 3% less than last season and much less of his “mistake” pitches are leaving the ballpark. He is giving up less than .50 HR/9, putting him in the top 5 among starting pitchers. By comparison, he was giving up almost .80 HR/9 as a reliever last season. His new approach as a starter has made him a legitimately better pitcher this season.

The switch from reliever to starter is not uncommon, but Sale’s immediate effectiveness as a starter is surprising. He has already accumulated 3.8 WAR, putting him behind only Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez in all of MLB. Both of those pitchers have 3 more starts than Sale, and averaging his WAR over as many starts would put him above each of those players. His FIP, which is a measure of what a player’s ERA should have been assuming that his team’s defensive performance was average, is third behind only Zack Greinke and Stephen Strasburg.

Anyway you look at it, Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and many people don’t realize it. Enjoy it, White Sox fans. You have yourselves a 23 year-old future Cy Young winner on your team.