Scouts' honor: Sox ace Sale one of baseball's best

Maybe you've been tuned into the Chicago Blackhawks' playoff push the last two months.

Or maybe you've just tuned out the Chicago White Sox due to their disappointing start to the season.

If either case is accurate, you've missed Chris Sale take his already impressive game to a scary new level.

"He's really been on a roll," manager Robin Ventura said.

That is an understatement.

In Sale's start against the Houston Astros Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field, the 26-year-old lefty pitched 8 innings, allowed 1 run on 5 hits and struck out 14.

Over his last four starts, the Sox' ace has 10 or more strikeouts, a franchise record.

There is more:

• According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Sale and Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax are the only major-league pitchers since 1900 to record three straight starts of 12-plus strikeouts while allowing 1 or no runs.

• Sale, who starts against the Rays Sunday at Tropicana Field, is the first pitcher with 12 or more strikeouts in three straight outings since another Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez, in 2001.

• Sale is the first pitcher since 1900 to strike out 10 or more in four straight starts while increasing his total in each game.

The 6-foot-6, 180-pounder struck out 10 in a May 23 game against the Minnesota Twins, 12 in a May 28 game against the Baltimore Orioles, 13 in a June 3 game against the Texas Rangers and 14 against the Astros.

Like Ventura said, Sale is on quite a roll.

For fun, I asked three major-league scouts to draft their dream rotation using current starters from either league. In no particular order, here are their picks:

Scout 1:

SALE

Matt Harvey, Mets

Max Scherzer, Nationals

Jose Fernandez, Marlins

Felix Hernandez, Mariners

Scout 2:

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

Hernandez

Madison Bumgarner, Giants

SALE

Harvey

Scout 3:

Kershaw

Hernandez

David Price, Tigers

SALE

Scherzer

As you can see, the opinions were a little varied, but it's important to note that Sale and King Felix are the only two starters picked by all three scouts.

Scout 1 on Sale: "What's great about Sale is he has exceptional stuff and exceptional ability to use his stuff. And he's left-handed to boot. His delivery … who have you ever seen that has that delivery? You hear a lot about his mechanics possibly leading to health problems, but look what he's done the last four, five years. I'd say he's pretty doggone durable."

Scout 2 on Sale: "He is definitely one of the Top 5 best starters in the game; the Top 1 on a lot of nights. I know (Monday) night, he was 98 (mph) on his 113th pitch. Then he threw another five or six that were 97."

Scout 3 on Sale: "It's an electric fastball, it's an electric breaking ball, it's an electric changeup. Everything. For me, the only thing you've ever questioned is his durability because of the body. Other than that, it's top rotation stuff. He's a competitor and he throws strikes with all of his pitches. He's really good. Really good."

• Follow Scot's reports on Twitter@scotgregor.

Gregor's Top 5

After three MLB scouts picked their Top 5 starters in baseball, we asked Scot Gregor to give us his list.

• Felix Hernandez, Mariners

• Max Scherzer, Nationals

• Madison Bumgarner, Giants

• CHRIS SALE, White Sox

• Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers