Doug Padilla, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Chris Sale on track to win Cy Young soon

CHICAGO -- It might be another season without a Cy Young Award for Chicago White Sox starter Chris Sale, but things are undoubtedly moving in the right direction.

When voting results were released Wednesday, Sale finished third in the Cy Young balloting from baseball writers, but at this rate, the pitchers’ most cherished prize figures to be his soon.

Sale’s first year as a major league starter was in 2012 and the left-hander’s 17-8 record, along with a 3.05 ERA over 192 innings led to a sixth-place finish in the Cy Young voting. Last season, Sale slipped to an 11-14 record with a 3.07 ERA, but he led the American League with four shutouts, pitched a career-best 214 1/3 innings and his Cy Young finish actually rose to fifth.

This year’s finish in the voting came after a 12-4 record and a 2.17 ERA over 174 innings, with Sale compromised by the fact that he missed over a month of action with an early-season forearm strain.

As Sale keeps raising the bar on himself, he keeps making it tougher to improve on excellence. But completing his rise to eventual Cy Young winner is expected to require one more step up to greatness.

Sale, though, has always said that individual recognition means little without team success. And while the coaching staff and front office would love to cheer Sale on to a Cy Young Award, what they would really want to see out of their staff ace is continued consistency to go along with good health.

Sale’s physical well-being will be monitored closely next spring training, whether the White Sox are willing to admit it or not. The three-quarter angle slinger has dealt with arm discomfort in each of his three seasons as a starter, with this year’s issue landing him on the disabled list for the first time.

Because Sale’s issues seem to occur before he reaches the double-digit mark in starts, it could be a sign that his preparation routine will get some fine tuning this winter, well before he arrives to the desert for spring training.

A healthy Sale could then have a chance at the type of dominating pitching seasons that could lead to a Cy Young walkover. Combine Sale’s innings count from 2013 with his .750 winning percentage from this past season and suddenly a 21-7 season with a sub 2.20 ERA is possible.

Those numbers, on a White Sox team that continues to improve, would have Sale clearing a space on his shelves for a brand new Cy Young Award.

Other impressive numbers from this past season that would be ideal to take into next year are things like his career-best 0.966 WHIP, his 5.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio and his AL-leading 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

Sale doesn’t have to hit all those marks to have a successful 2015 season, of course. As long as he can show consistency worthy of his staff-ace status, while getting stronger as the season progresses, the White Sox will be more than satisfied.

Can he get better? Sale’s three-year trajectory in the Cy Young voting says he can, and if it happens, a pitcher’s highest honor will be his, all while setting the bar even higher on himself.

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