Sidearm Slingers : Chris Sale

Chris Sale pitching in an Atlanta Braves jersey.

Credit: MLB

Chris Sale starts off our "Sidearm Slingers" series of past and present sidearm pitchers who have played and had success in the Major Leagues. This series aims to highlight the art of sidearm pitching and players who have tremendous success doing so.

Biography

Chris Sale is a 6' 6"/ 180 pound left-handed pitcher who currently plays for the Atlanta Braves. Drafted in the 2010 MLB Draft in the 1st Round, 13th overall, by the Chicago White Sox, the Florida Gulf Coast product has had a very successful 14-year career in the Big Leagues so far.

Notably, Sale won the NL Cy Young award in his age 35 season (after 3 to 4 years of injuries) last year in his first season with the Braves. His stat line during the 2024 MLB season was a 18-3 W-L record, 2.38 ERA, 177.2 Innings Pitched, and 225 strikeouts to only 141 hits and 29 walks allowed. Sale led the National League in wins (18), ERA (2.38), and strikeouts (225), earning himself the NL Triple Crown honor, in which a pitcher leads in all three major pitching statistics.

Sale, known as "The Conductor", possesses career statistics (2010 - 2024) so far of a 138-83 W-L record, 3.04 ERA in 372 games pitched/1958.1 innings pitched, and amassing 2414 strikeouts and eight All-Star game selections.

Sidearm Pitching Delivery

To define what pitching sidearm means, we first need to clarify that an arm angle is based on the horizontal line that extends from a pitcher's throwing shoulder to the point in time of their release point. 90 degrees represents straight over the top pitchers, or what most pitchers in the MLB throw close to. 0 degrees represents perfectly horizontal to the flat ground, or more well known as a sidearm pitcher. (Baseball Savant)

Chris Sale's 2024 average arm angle was 11 degrees, which defines him as a "Sidearm Slinger".

Additionally, since 2021, the southpaw has produced the trend of dropping his average arm angle from 15 degrees in 2021, 13 degrees in 2022 and 2023, to the aforementioned 11 degrees last season in 2024.

Out of all qualified left-handed and right-handed pitchers, Sale has the 8th lowest average arm slot. While pitchers like Tim Hill (-20 degrees) and Tyler Rogers (-64 degrees) skew the low arm slot leaderboards, those pitchers can be considered as submarine pitchers, as they are releasing the ball below their waist at a negative degrees arm angle

Sidearm Pitchers Can be Disgustingly Good!

A large part in what contributes to a Sidearm Slinger's success is that hitters are used to seeing pitched to them in the batter's box at an over the top of three-fourths angle. Because of the different angles the pitches are coming at, they will typically have different movement profiles, and as a result hitters may not be as ready or well-practiced to hit these pitches as its simply uncommon to face them. This is not to say sidearm pitchers are invincible, but the unique delivery often plays to the pitcher's advantage.

Movement Profiles

In looking at Sale's Baseball Savant page, we can see how his pitches have more induced horizontal break towards 1st base (into a lefty hitter) and towards 3rd base (into a righty hitter) than they do induced vertical break (rise and drop).

Slider (40% Pitch Usage)

The yellow cluster of dots represents a 100 pitch sample of Sale's sliders he threw during the 2024 season. Average induced vertical break was -4.7 inches of drop and average induced horizontal break was 11.0 inches of glove side break (into a right/to third base side).

Credit: Pitching Ninja

This compares to the yellow shaded oval with dashed lines which represents the average induced vertical and horizontal break of all MLB left-handed pitchers in 2024. So, it can be concluded that Sale's slider has more drop, and more glove side break on his sliders than all other lefty pitchers in the MLB on average.

4-Seam Fastball (38% Pitch Usage)

The red cluster of dots represents a 100 pitch sample of Sale's 4-seam fastballs he threw during the 2024 season. Average induced vertical break was 10.2 inches of rise and average induced horizontal break was 14.9 inches of arm side run (into a lefty/to first base side).

Credit: Ace on the Mound

This compares to the red shaded oval with dashed lines which represents the average induced vertical and horizontal break of all MLB left-handed pitchers in 2024. So, it can be concluded that Sale's fastballs have less rise, but more arm side run on his 4-seam fastball than all other lefty pitchers in the MLB on average.

Changeup (15% Pitch Usage)

The green cluster of dots represents a 100 pitch sample of Sale's changeups he threw during the 2024 season. Average induced vertical break was 0.3 inches of rise and average induced horizontal break was 16.2 inches of arm side run (into a lefty/to first base side).

Credit: The Baseball Nerd

This compares to the green shaded with dashed lines which represents the average induced vertical and horizontal break of all MLB left-handed pitchers in 2024. So, it can be concluded that Sale's changeups have about the same rise and arm side run as all other lefty pitchers in the MLB on average.

Sinker (7% Pitch Usage)

The small orange cluster of dots represents a 100 pitch sample of Sale's sinkers he threw during the 2024 season. Average induced vertical break was 2.8 inches of rise and average induced horizontal break was 17.7 inches of arm side run (into a lefty/to first base side).

This compares to the orange shaded oval with dashed lines which represents the average induced vertical and horizontal break of all MLB left-handed pitchers in 2024. So, it can be concluded that Sale's sinkers have less rise, and about the same arm-side run than all other lefty pitchers in the MLB on average.

Conclusion

Overall, Sale's 4-seam fastball, changeup, and sinker will have less rise, but more arm side run because of the nature that pitchers throwing sidearm will have their pitches move side to side more than rise or drop. This is because the pitches are coming from a close to 0 degree angle relative to the ground. Further, sidearm pitchers tend to have more devastating sliders as their motion plays into the fact that the pitch will have more glove side break, and potentially more depth, like in Chris Sale's movement profiles.

Sale remains on the books for the Braves for the 2025 season with a $22 million salary, and a team option to extend his contract for 2026 (age 37 season) for an $18 million salary. Off the back of a NL Cy Young, Triple Crown season, and having already won a World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, Chris Sale is a prime example of the effectiveness and success a "Sidearm Slinger" can achieve in the Major Leagues.

Sources:

Baseball Reference (Chris Sale's Stats): https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/salech01.shtml

Baseball Savant(Arm Angle Leaderboards): https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/pitcher-arm-angles?_gl=1*169udt5*_ga*MTI4NDE0NTU1OS4xNzEzNDY1NDEw*_ga_N8YFCZLYSZ*MTczODc3MzgxMS44LjEuMTczODc3NTgyNy42MC4wLjI5OTk4ODYxMw..*_gcl_au*NjM1ODE0ODE3LjE3Mzg3NzM4MTE.

Baseball Savant(Chris Sale's Profile): https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/chris-sale-519242?stats=statcast-r-pitching-mlb