Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox
May Stats: 1-2 record, 43.1% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate, 2.82 ERA, 2.19 SIERA, and 1.6 fWAR in 38.1 innings
Although the southpaw is sporting an ugly 1-7 overall record, his actual performance has done an about-face when looking at the peripherals. Sale finished March/April with a 6.30 ERA and 24.1% strikeout rate, so after wondering if he was OK for a month, it looks like there’s still plenty of miles left in that arm of his.
Chris Sale, Unhittable 80mph Back Foot Slider (w/Tail). 😯 pic.twitter.com/eCQ4V5HoZL
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 1, 2019
Sale’s hard-hit rate allowed (34.8% to 37.0%) and fly-ball rate allowed (38.6% to 45.8%) actually increased from one month to the next, but so did his infield-fly rate allowed (2.9% to 15.2%).
His May performance was so crazy that his season-long stats — outside of his ERA and record, of course — don’t look too different from what he did last season, when he posted a 12-4 record with a 2.11 ERA, 38.4% strikeout rate, 5.5% walk rate, and 6.2 fWAR.
Baseball has a way of evening things out, doesn’t it?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
