Chris Sale’s final nine starts show who he can be for Braves

The Braves made their biggest splash of the offseason over the holidays, swinging a trade for seven-time All-Star Chris Sale before the new year.

In return, Boston received Vaughn Grissom, a relatively stiff price to pay for a pitcher who has totaled just 31 starts and 151.0 innings since the start of the 2021 campaign. However, the Braves are betting on the upside of Sale, who still possesses some of the best strikeout stuff in the majors. That ability was on full display once he returned from the IL for nine starts to end the season, a topic the newest member of the Braves broadcast booth CJ Nitkowski discussed following the trade on MLB Network Radio.

“Obviously, you have all the injury concerns with Chris Sale, but he finished the season really strong. In those last two months, he pitched well. The last two months from a batting average, from a swing-and-miss standpoint, he was a top 10 pitcher over his last nine starts. I get it, he wasn’t going deep in games, nobody is going to ask him to do that. They’re going to ask him to be a five innings, six innings pitcher on the high end with this offense and bullpen behind him in Atlanta.”