Former Northwoods pitcher Chris Sale was promoted to the Major Leagues by the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, August 4th. The 13th pick in the 2010 First-Year Major League Player Draft reaches the Majors quicker than any draftee since 2003.
The White Sox intend to eventually use Sale in the starting rotation and plan to use him similarly to current Major Leaguers Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Clayton Richard. Those pitchers were promoted to the club as a reliever, but eventually found themselves in the rotation, as is the idea for Sale.
The 6-foot-5, 175-pound lefty comes from Triple-A Charlotte where his innings were monitored due to a high inning count at Florida Gulf Coast in 2009. The ‘skinny kid’, as White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen calls him, only threw 10.1 inning in Class-A Winston-Salem and Triple-A Charlotte combined. The first member from the ’10 Draft class to become a big leaguer also became the first White Sox player since Alex Fernandez in 1990 to hit the Majors in the same season during which he was drafted.
The Florida Gulf Coast product pitched in La Crosse in 2008. As a Logger, Sale had a 2-3 record with one save in 15 games played. He struck out 74 batters in 53.0 innings pitched while only walking 30. While pitching for FGCU he posted an 11-0 record and a 2.01 ERA over 17 games this past season. The 21-year-old pitched 103 innings, fanning 146 and walking just 14.
Sale becomes the 3rd La Crosse Logger to make it to the big leagues as he follows Daniel Ray Herrera (Reds) and Max Scherzer (Tigers).
Follow Sale in the Majors at www.northwoodsleague.com and www.chicagowhitesox.com.
The Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America. Sale will be the 69th NWL alumni to appear in Major League Baseball.
