Boston Red Sox all-star pitcher, Chris Sale, is known for being one of the best pitchers in MLB. He used to play for the Chicago White Sox and was traded to Boston in exchange for Yoan Moncada and three other players. His 2017 season with Boston earned him 17 wins and 8 loses with 32 starts. In the first month of the 2018 season, some are beginning to worry about Sales' mechanics; his slider is not consistent, and his fastball has decreased in velocity.

In Tuesday's loss versus the Kansas City Royals, one commentator said "[Sales'] slider hasn't been there in the last two starts."

Chris Sale has not played the same as before

Sale has made an all-star career in the MLB with his fastball and slider. That is why Boston traded for him in 2016. They saw his talent and brought him on board and he quickly improved the team. Peter Abraham, a sports journalist from the "Boston Globe," said "[Sales'] average fastball velocity has dropped from 95.1 miles per hour last season to 93.5. He also hasn’t felt the same confidence in what is usually a killer slider." Boston's manager Alex Cora tried to do some changes and improve Sales' mechanics for the Tuesday game against Kansas City, however, Sale still struggled with his slider.

Some of his sliders even hit the opposing batters.

Chris Sale has explanation for the decline in stats

On May 3, Chris Sale was interviewed by WEEI radio hosted by three hosts: OMF - Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria. Here is a snippet of the interview:

The MLB season is a long season, especially for pitchers. Sale expects Boston to make the playoffs and hopefully play in the World Series. At the current moment, Boston sits at the top of the American League with 23 wins and 9 loses. Sale is not pitching as fast because "Longevity is the key ..." According to Sale, he wants to play longer and not tire himself out. By the end of the 2017 season, Sale felt tired and exhausted because of his many pitches.

Now he wants to be more consistent and conserve his pitch count. That will mean fewer strikeouts, but he will be more healthy in the playoffs.

Chris Sale using analytics to improve rather than mechanics

In the interview with OMF that I mentioned previously, Sale mentioned that Boston's manager Alex Cora has shown him a new strategy to improve his game. It focuses on analytics. Sale admitted when it comes to analytics, he is "somewhat new to this ..." Cora showed to Sale that analytics are important to take note of. For example, Sale threw a certain kind of pitch 75 percent of the time at a certain count with a batter. This can be highly useful for the batter if they know that Sale will throw a certain pitch 75 percent of the time if the count is 0-2 for example. Sale will begin to change up his different pitches allowing him to be more deceitful and confuse batters. I posted the full interview below between Sale and OMF below.