Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale has been named the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner.
He won the award after pitching 177 2/3 innings with 225 strikeouts, a 2.09 FIP, and a 2.38 ERA, beating out a strong second-place finish, Zach Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies. Wheeler thwarted Sale’s unanimous decision and received four of the BBWAA’s 30 first-place votes. I got the remaining 26 pieces on sale.
Sale, who won the NL Comeback Player of the Year award last week, is also the NL Triple Crown champion and leads the league in earned run average, strikeouts and wins (18). The last Braves pitcher to win the Cy Young Award was Tom Glavine in 1998.
In the American League, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal unanimously won the Cy Young Award.
Sale, 35, planned a great comeback season. The 15-year MLB veteran had a miserable 2023 with the Boston Red Sox, but was given a chance to start over after being traded to the Braves in December. Sale then signed a two-year, $38 million contract with the Braves, becoming the Braves’ latest Charlie Morton-style reclamation project.
However, calling the sale a “landfill project” isn’t entirely accurate. He spent many years as the ace of the Chicago White Sox and Red Sox. Sale, who was drafted 13th overall by the White Sox in 2010, made his debut that same season, but it wasn’t until 2012 that he really broke out. That began an incredible seven-year run that saw him appear in the All-Star Game and finish in the top half of the league. Six Cy Youngs are voted on each season. He never missed a beat after being traded from the White Sox to the Red Sox in 2016.
Then, leading up to Sale’s 2020 season, injuries started to pile up, and he missed the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March. Due to continued illness and elbow recovery, his 2021 debut did not occur until late summer. The 2022 season was somehow worse. His year began with a rib stress fracture sustained during batting practice. He finally returned to the Red Sox in July, but shortly thereafter broke the middle finger on his pitcher’s hand. Then he got into a bicycle accident and broke his wrist, ending his season.
Sale wasn’t the hottest commodity on the trade market after a below-average 2023 season while battling shoulder issues. All the Braves did to get him was second baseman Vaughn Grissom and cash. But it’s a move that pays off in the biggest sense for them, and for Sale.
