Chris Sale on his first 'game' of the spring and top prospect Jay Groome

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Some elite pitchers don’t enjoy pitching camp games at 11 a.m., where there’s little energy or adrenaline.

Chris Sale is not one of those elite pitchers.

In his first "game" setting of the spring, Sale threw 52 pitches over four controlled innings against a lineup of Red Sox minor leaguers on a back field at Fenway South and got plenty out of the experience.

“Personally, I get a lot out of (outings like this),’’ said Sale. “Anytime I get on a mound, I’m not there messing around. There’s no, ‘This is just a side session,’ or ‘This is just a live BP,’’ or whatever. This is work to get better. Maybe the energy in a ballpark can kind of raise (the excitement level), but it doesn’t make your effort level go down. I appreciate the guys going out there and putting that together for me and some other guys to get some work in.

“But there’s never a time where you go out there being lackadaisical or thinking this isn’t going to be a step in the right direction and getting better and prepared.’’

The Sox are carefully monitoring Sale’s workload this spring with an eye toward ramping him up gradually for the start of the regular season and ensuring that he’s not physically spent by August and September.

On Sunday, that included pitching coach Dana LeVangie sometimes cutting short innings in the middle of at-bats to guarantee Sale didn’t go over the prescribed limit of 12-13 pitches per inning.

“Dana said, ‘Hey, I know you’re probably not the happiest when I’m rolling over innings in the middle of an at-bat,’ ‘’ said Sale. “But at the end of the day, it’s part of the process, part of the buildup and controlling the environment. If you go out there and in the first inning throw 27 pitches, it’s kind of tough to build from there.

“So this was good. I wouldn’t say I got more out of this than from a real game because obviously, there’s no replicating a real game. But it is nice knowing that you’ve got 12 pitches this inning – you’re not going any less, you’re not going any more. And it’s nice to know, ‘OK, I’ve got to get this done in 12 pitches; there’s no messing around.’ You go 2-and-0 to a guy, you know the next one has to be a strike. So I do like that game management (aspect), rather than just flinging it in there and whatever happens, happens.’’

In between innings, Sale got a chance to watch Jay Groome, the Red Sox’ top-ranked pitching prospect, go against some major league hitters, including J.D. Martinez, Eduardo Nunez and Hanley Ramirez. At Sale’s request, Sale and Groome spent a lot of time working out together this past winter, but Sunday represented the first opportunity for Sale to watch Groome throw live.

“He’s 19-years old,’’ said Sale. “But you look at his body, you look at his frame, the stuff that he has ... it’s just a matter of time. It doesn’t click overnight for anybody. It’s always a work in progress. But I would love to be in the same rotation as him. I saw him work this off-season and get after it and the maturity level’s only going to get better, the work ethic’s only going to get better and I think his stuff’s only going to get better.

“I didn’t have it all figured out when I was 19; nobody else in (this clubhouse) had it all figured out when they were 19. But if he keeps doing what he’s doing and keeping his foot on the gas, he’ll be here sooner rather than later.’’