Chris Sale received some positive news on Thursday after undergoing an MRI on his injured left shoulder.
Sale was cleared to begin throwing for the first time since he landed on the injured list on June 2 with a stress reaction in his left scapula bone (shoulder blade). He threw from 60 feet at about 60-70% in the outfield at Fenway Park.
The news of Sale playing catch is positive but the lefty is still weeks away from returning to game action.
“I know it’s nothing groundbreaking but it’s big for me personally just because it’s baseball stuff,” Sale said. “I’m a baseball player and showing up to a baseball field to not do anything baseball related … it’s not fun. It takes its toll on you. To be able to show up and actually feel like I’m doing something to better myself — to hopefully sooner rather than later — help this team is good. Throwing is better than not throwing, that’s for damn sure.”
Sale nor his skipper Alex Cora provided reporters a timetable for his return to the mound. Because the lefty was placed on the 60-day IL, he is not eligible to return to the Sox until Aug. 1. While Sale will push to return as soon as he is eligible to come back and pitch, he will still need to ramp back up and throw in rehab games with either Double-A Portland or Triple-A Worcester.
The fact Sale was throwing within four weeks of his initial injury versus the six-week timeframe he was diagnosed with is incredibly encouraging for the lefty.
“A lot of times when you have a stress reaction or stress fracture or even a fracture in the bone, those most of the time are right around six weeks (of being shut down), give or take,” Sale said. “But with testing and a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing rehab-wise over the last few weeks, I was kind of at a point where I couldn’t really do anything to make this provoked. There’s nothing I can do to really make my arm hurt. So really the next step after that is throwing.”
Sale is expected to play catch every other day, the next time he will throw will be on Saturday from Fenway Park. The Sox will be on the road in Toronto playing a three-game series against the Blue Jays.
Typically in the past when Sale has been rehabbing from an injury, he has reported to the Sox’ Fenway South complex. This time, he wanted to remain with the team. Sale wanted to attend the home games and work with the staff at Fenway Park.
“I didn’t want to go anywhere,” Sale said. “I wanted to keep the flow of being in this process. Coming to games, staying for games. Just kind of staying locked in with that."
He added, “You almost don’t even feel like you’re part of the team at times. You’re not traveling, not playing, showing up to just workout and lift weights. Not exactly what this thing [points to body] is built for. But hey it’s part of it, could always be worse.”
Sale has been no stranger to dealing with injuries during the last few years. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020 he has dealt with numerous other injuries that have kept him off the mound.
Last March, Sale fractured a rib while throwing before reporting to spring training. Sale came back from that injury but quickly landed on the shelf with a broken pinkie following a line drive that hit his throwing hand at Yankee Stadium. A few weeks later, Sale broke his wrist in a bike accident effectively ending his season.
“I just kind of take them for what they are,” he said. “Just weird ticky-tacky things that you can’t really do much about.”
The Sox understand the importance of Sale to their rotation and how he is chomping at the bit to return to action. With that, they’re preaching patience while he rehabs over the next handful of weeks.
“We’ve been through this road before so I think patience is the constant,” Cora said. “We’ve been patient in previous years. He has been able to post, so we’ve just got to stay disciplined, be patient and hopefully he can contribute at some point this season.”
Sale preached that he’s felt good but is willing to remain patient.
“I’ve felt good for a while now,” Sale said. “And that’s kind of the worst part of it, that’s what I heard a lot is, ‘You’re going to feel pretty good quick, and then you’re still going to have to kind of sit around and wait.’ Initially, we thought this was going to be closer to six weeks but, luckily we shaved a couple weeks off and obviously appreciate the guys that I have working for me because that helps me a lot.”
Prior to landing on the IL, Sale was pitching like his old self.
“I threw a baseball for the first time in four weeks today. I’m in a pretty good mood, so I’ll leave that to all them,” Sale said. “They’re the ones that put the programs together, timetables, all that stuff. I just show up and do what I’m told at this point.
“My shoulder feels good. My elbow feels great. First time getting to throw in a long time and obviously the anticipation, the excitement, it’s hard to throttle back. But at the same time, you know, this is a process. If you’re going to run a marathon you don’t just go out there and run 20 miles on Day 1, you build up to that. I’ve got to trust the process, respect my body and just go through it.”