Chris Sale takes the ball Friday night at Busch Stadium with a chance to carve out a place in Braves history that only John Smoltz has reached.
Sale, fresh off his 10th All-Star selection last weekend, has put together a season that keeps stacking up against some rare company. Through 16 starts, he owns a 2.27 ERA, good for fourth in the National League. If he avoids a meltdown, he’ll finish the first 17 starts with the best ERA ever posted by a Braves pitcher age 37 or older.
That benchmark belongs to Smoltz, who had a 2.74 ERA at this point in 2005. In fact, Smoltz is the only Braves pitcher 37 or older in the Modern Era - since 1900 - to get through the first 17 starts of a season with a sub-3.00 ERA.
Sale has even bigger territory within reach beyond the Braves record book. He could become one of just three pitchers 37 or older this decade to open a season with a sub-2.30 ERA through 17 starts, joining Max Scherzer, who did it with a 2.15 ERA, and Justin Verlander, who did it with a 1.89 ERA.
The only other pitchers to hit that mark this century were A.J. Burnett in 2015, Roger Clemens in 2005, Tom Glavine in 2004, Al Leiter in 2004 and Kevin Brown in 2003.
The run he’s on is backed by the kind of stuff that suggests this isn’t just a numbers story. Sale has posted a 1.94 ERA over his last 13 outings, and his fastball has looked as lively as it has since the discomfort and injuries that started in 2019.
On Saturday, his four-seam fastball averaged 96.7 mph, up from his season average of 95.9 mph entering that game. That was the fifth-highest average he has recorded in any outing since the start of 2019, and four of his top five marks in that span have come since May 28.
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Braves Bet Big On AJ Gracia With Premium First Round Pick
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His college path has already shown plenty of adaptability, beginning at Duke before following coach Chris Pollard to Virginia for his junior season. Across that run, Gracia stacked up the kind of numbers and honors that keep him near the top of draft boards, and Atlanta is betting on a left-handed hitter with impact power, a disciplined approach and enough athleticism to give the club options in center field as he begins the next stage of his career. [Read more 🡒]