Chris Sale cruises through minor league spring start

Shortly after news of his broken foot, Chris Sale went from being the White Sox Opening Day starter to missing a week or two if everything went according to plan. After a start in a minor league game on Wednesday, Chris Sale might just be showing that he doesn't really need spring training.

In a game against the Reds Single-A team, Sale struck out 13, while giving up two hits, including a home run, in over six innings of work.  In the start, he threw 90 pitches, and 67 of those were strikes. To help underscore the odd things that happen in spring minor league games, the Reds actually made five outs in the sixth to allow Sale to get all his work in.

This is exceptional news since the White Sox really don't have to consider bringing another pitcher along that could possibly start (instead, Robin Ventura has decided to bring both Micah Johnson and Carlos Sanchez north for the first week). Assuming no setbacks and a normal rest schedule for Sale, he'll pitch in extended spring training or a simulated game on April 6 and would be available to start April 11.  So, he won't make it to Opening Day, but he could be in Chicago for opening weekend and that makes a bad situation a few weeks ago not so bad.