Chris Sale only ever wanted to do one thing: “To out-stuff people,” he says. The method was simple. “It means, ‘I’m gonna max out, I’m gonna throw the living crap out of every pitch, and that’s how I’m gonna beat you,’” says Don Cooper, who is now in his 15th season as the White Sox’ pitching coach.
This was Sale’s approach even when he was young and so slight that his teammates in Florida called him Splinter. He wanted to play pro baseball, and he knew that stuff was all the scouts who curled their fingers through the fence at Lakeland High cared about.