Braves Lose Star Starter Chris Sale Indefinitely With Cracked Rib Cage

Chris Sale’s hopes of retaining the National League’s Cy Young Award – and Atlanta’s hopes of an eighth straight playoff appearance – disappeared during one diving stop by the star left-hander.

Latest Injury

Sale, who won his first Gold Glove for defensive excellence last season, lunged for a ninth-inning infield nubber, stretching to his full 6’6″form, to rob Juan Soto of an infield hit during a 5-0 Braves win against the Mets last Wednesday. He got the out but also knocked himself out – perhaps for months – with a fractured left rib-cage.

Atlanta’s ace had a similar injury three years ago, suffering a stress fracture in his right ribs while pitching a spring training exhibition game for the Boston Red Sox. He missed the first half of that season as a result.

Sale, 36, threw a season-high 116 pitches, missing his first complete game in six years when Brandon Nimmo blooped a two-out double down the left-field line with two outs in the ninth. He still lowered his earned run average to 2.52, third in the National League behind Logan Webb and Paul Skenes.

He was also a strong candidate to start the July 15 All-Star Game in his home stadium, Atlanta’s Truist Park. Sale has started the Midsummer Classic three other times, all of them in succession during his lengthy American League tenure.

Now in his second season with the Braves, who obtained him from Boston in an even-up swap for young middle infielder Vaughn Grissom, Sale won the Triple Crown of pitching last year. In 2024, he led the NL in victories (18), earned run average (2.38), and strikeouts (225).

Pitcher’s Pact

Under a two-year, $38 million contract extension signed with the Braves soon after his arrival, Sale is earning $22 million this season. If a club option is exercised, Sale cannot become a free agent before 2027.

His career average of 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings ranks second among starting pitchers. He was even tougher last year, his first in the National League, when he finished first with 11.4.

Ironically, Sale’s injury occurred in a start delayed three extra days so that he could pitch twice in home-and-home series against the Mets. Those games, including the three-game sweep by the Braves at home last week, could be critical to Atlanta’s comeback hopes in the National League East.

Atlanta not only opened the season with a seven-game losing streak on a West Coast swing against the Dodgers and Padres but had a second seven-game slump later in the season. But the team has played better since the return of former MVP Ronald Acuna, Jr. and star pitcher Spencer Strider, both of whom returned in May.

Now it will be up to Strider to fill the enormous void left by Sale. The 26-year-old right-hander led the league with 20 wins and 281 strikeouts in 2023 but missed most of last season with an elbow injury that kept him sidelined for nearly a year. He lost his first five decisions but won his last two, including a 13-strikeout performance that lasted only six innings.

Young Rotation

Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Grant Holmes will be the key cogs in manager Brian Snitker’s rotation, with Bryce Elder and perhaps rookie Didier Fuentes rounding out a rotation that now lacks a veteran presence.

The Braves previously lost Reynaldo López, who had a 1.99 ERA in 25 starts last year, and AJ Smith-Shawver, a Rookie of the Year contender before requiring Tommy John elbow surgery.

Lopez, who made strong conversion from relief to rotation last year, suffered shoulder inflammation and is out indefinitely. But he should return before Smith-Shawver, whose absence could extend through the 2026 campaign.

Even if the team swings a trade, it will be virtually impossible to replace Sale, who has fanned 30.8 per cent of opposing hitters while walking only 7 per cent. He has pitched 89 1/3 innings over his 15 starts.

A 15-year veteran with a 3.02 career ERA, Sale seems to have trouble staying healthy as his athletic age advances. He had shoulder inflammation in 2018, UCL replacement surgery in 2020, and fractures of the foot, pinky finger, and wrist – all keeping him sidelined for various lengths of time. The wrist injury occurred in a bicycle accident.

Internal candidates to replace him include erstwhile World Series hero Ian Anderson, or untested rookies Hurston Waldrep, Davis Daniel, or the 20-year-old Fuentes, who last week became the youngest Braves starter since 1970.

Atlanta entered play Sunday with a 35-40 record that left it third in the division, 10 games behind the Mets and Phillies, who were tied at the top. No team that started a season 0-7 has ever reached the playoffs but the Braves had hoped to become the first.

The Braves are six games behind in the wild-card race but five teams ahead of them also have eyes on the coveted final spot in qualify for post-season play.