Chris Sale is dominating the AL, but one Unit of measurement matters most

Bob Nightengale | USA TODAY Sports

CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale watched him on TV every chance he could.

He studied all his mannerisms.

He wore his uniform number.

Goodness, he even bore a physical resemblance with his 6-foot-6, 180-pound frame.

Now, Sale hopes there will be a day when he meets the man he idolized growing up in Florida.

"Randy Johnson was my man,'' Sale told USA TODAY Sports. "I watched everything he did. That's the guy who I wanted to be.''

Well, as Johnson is working on his speech for his induction next month into Baseball's Hall of Fame, Sale is honoring him the best way possible by impersonating one of the greatest left-handers in baseball history.

Sale, whose career began one year after Johnson retired, is putting on a pitching clinic for the ages, leaving hitters muttering to themselves, and retreating back to the dugout, strikeout after strikeout.

Sale joined Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax as the only pitcher since 1900 to produce three consecutive starts of 12 or more strikeouts while yielding no more than one run. He also is the first pitcher in the modern era to record at least 10 strikeouts in four consecutive starts while increasing his total each time, striking out 14 in his last start Monday against the Houston Astros.

"We drew a walk against him,'' Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch said, "and it was like a celebration on the bench. He doesn't allow baserunners.

"He's as difficult to center-up as any pitcher we've seen. He's making hitters as uncomfortable as Johnson made them look.''

Sale, 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in his last three starts, striking out 39 and walking just three batters in 22 2/3 innings, drew 26 swings and misses against the Astros' lineup. Shortstop Carlos Correa, who made his major-league debut that evening, was the only hitter who didn't swing and miss at a pitch, while six of his teammates struck out at least twice.

Incredibly, Sale has produced 97 swings and misses in his last four starts, averaging 96.4 mph with his two-strike fastball against the Astros. He became the first pitcher since Johnson in 2002 to make the opposing team swing and miss 20 or more times in four consecutive games.

"He's got the greatest slider I've seen in my life,'' says Astros DH Evan Gattis, who struck out twice against Sale. "He's the best left-hander I've ever seen, well, him and (Clayton) Kershaw. It's unbelievable what he's doing right now.''

Little wonder why Sale's dominance has scouts and baseball executives comparing him to Johnson. He that same violent delivery, with a low arm angle, and with his 95-99 mph fastball, devastating slider and changeup, he's not only retiring hitters, but embarrassing them.

Yep, just like his idol did for 22 years making him the most feared lefty in the game.

"There was no one like Randy,'' Sale said. "It wasn't just his fastball or his slider, you were scared just looking at him with that focus he had on the mound

"The things he did were just unbelievable.

"He was the guy I wanted to be like.''

From across the country, Johnson practically blushes when he hears those words.

"I'm flattered that he thinks of me that way,'' Johnson told USA TODAY Sports. "But considering the fact he's just 26, he's light years away from where I was at that age. I didn't have that kind of success that early. I didn't have that control.

"If I had to name the best five pitchers in the game, he's one of them for sure, right along with Clayton Kershaw and Felix Hernandez. He's just a very dominating pitcher right now."

And to think, five years ago Sale was considered a risk when the White Sox selected him with the 13th pick of the first round.

Teams were scared of that thin, frail fame. They were frightened his violent delivery and low arm slot would lead to injuries. They wondered if he'd be anything more than a reliever.

"Clearly, I whiffed,'' said Los Angeles Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto, who was the Arizona Diamondbacks' interim GM at the time.

The Diamondbacks actually had a press release ready to distribute announcing Sale as the sixth overall pick in the draft, but at the last minute, changed their mind. They instead drafted pitcher Barret Loux, but never signed him after concerns with his physical.

"We loved the ability,'' Dipoto said of Sale, "but there were concerns as to whether he would hold up as a starter or end up as a back end of the bullpen. I'd like to try that one again.

"He's a stud.''

Besides the sheer talent, it's that demeanor that makes him one of the game's fiercest competitors. He was the one who screamed at Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez last year, believing he was stealing signs. He's had epic meltdowns smashing everything in sight in the dugout with a bat. And he right in the middle of the bench-clearing brawl on April 23 against the Kansas City Royals, drawing a five-game suspension.

White Sox president Ken Williams was an early the victim of one of Sale's legendary eruptions. Williams, the general manager at the time, made the decision to take Sale out of the rotation in 2012 and put him in the bullpen. Simply, Williams felt that Sale was relying too heavily on his slider, abandoning his changeup, and feared Sale would digress, already coming down with forearm stiffness.

Those plans changed when Williams picked up the telephone at home with Sale on the other end of the line.

"He wasn't happy with me at all,'' Williams said. "He said some things that I allowed for awhile, and then I had to remind him that not only was I the GM, but I'm in shape, and I can fight.

"When I got off the phone, my fiancée at the time and now wife, said, 'You let your players yell and scream like that?'

"Well, I was pumped about it. It was the first sign that he had that No. 1, shutdown, mentality.

"I loved it, because there was no back down in him.''

The rest is history. Sale has been an All-Star team in each of his three seasons as a starter, finished third last year in the Cy Young balloting, and his 2.17 ERA was the lowest by an American League left-handed pitcher since Ron Guidry of the Yankees in 1978.

Maybe you won't hear Sale say it publicly, but when he takes the mound, he believes he's the best pitcher on the planet, and tries to prove it with his sheer domination.

"I don't know if I'd want to say my mindset out loud,'' said Sale, 6-2, 3.04 ERA, "but you definitely have to have confidence in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, who should? I'm a pretty firm believer that if you go out there with the intention you may get your rear end handed to you, it's a good bet it's going to happen.''

The terrifying aspect for opposing hitters is that Sale continues to get better. He mixes in an assortment of four-seam fastballs, sliders and changeups that leave hitters constantly guessing, and whiffing. His slider has never been more lethal, throwing it 82 times in the last three starts, just two reaching base against it.

"He's the best pitcher I've ever had,'' said pitching coach Don Cooper, who has spent 27 years in the White Sox organization. "He's the most talented, the most gifted, and he has that desire to be the best.

"There were some games the last couple of years where he hasn't channeled that energy and power because the control tower was a little out of whack. And when the control tower is out of whack, that plane is going to crash.

"But now he's in a good place mentally, and when you can combine that energy and that life, it can take you to heights you've never seen before.''

It's enough to make the big fella in Arizona proud.

"Hopefully, he can appreciate what he's doing,'' Johnson said, "and understands just how special this is. If he stays mentally and physically prepared, I think you're going to see a lot of special things out of him.

"I look forward to watching him.

"Tell him that one day I'd like to meet him, too.''