Is Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale the next Pedro Martinez?

Chris Sale is matching up to Pedro Martinez pretty well. But how close is the current ace to beating the former ace in being the best Red Sox pitcher in team history?

It’s no question that Pedro Martinez is by far the best Boston Red Sox pitcher since Roger Clemens.

Pedro spent seven seasons with the Red Sox, going 117-37 with a 2.52 ERA. Pedro brought that fire in his delivery and made hitters think twice about facing him. Pedro’s best season was in 1999 when he went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA. He also recorded 313 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.923. The following year 2000 the ace would go 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA and record 284 strikeouts with a WHIP of 0.737.

Currently, the Red Sox have another pitcher in Chris Sale who’s putting up Pedro Martinez numbers. You might be astonished at the stats and how much Sale is comparable to Pedro.

Both Pedro and Sale handle themselves differently in public. Pedro spoke what was on his mind, even calling the New York Yankees his “daddy.” He took so much heat for that everytime he went to New York to pitch. Sale is more humble than Pedro. He will give credit to his teammates, but also say how he did and what he needs to work on to improve. You’ll never hear Sale calling the Yankees his daddy. He’d cut up jerseys before he would ever say something like that.

Sale came off the 10-day disabled list last night and pitched just one inning, throwing 26 pitches and recording two strikeouts. It’s pretty clear they are getting the ace ready for the playoffs.

This stat from Boston Sports Info on Twitter is pretty astonishing at how close Sale is to Pedro. 2018 Sale vs 2000 Pedro through 23 games. Sale is 12-4 with a 1.96 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 33 walks, and 219 strikeouts. Pedro in 2000 was 14-4 with a 1.77 ERA, 0.77WHIP, 27 walks, and 226 strikeouts.

In 2000, Pedro went 1-2 against the rival Yankees. The ace also had a 2.10 ERA in 30 innings against them.  Sale so far this season is 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings against the arch-rival Yankees. Even with a smaller sample size from Sale his numbers against the Yankees are better than Pedro’s. However, the postseason is a totally different ballgame. Sale has yet to win a postseason game while Pedro helped win a World Series for the Red Sox in 2004.

However, Pedro also struggled in the playoffs, not putting up the numbers he did in the regular season. For example, Pedro in 2004 went 2-1 in the postseason with a high ERA of 4.00. Sale last season in the playoffs against Houston struggled to pitch, tossing  9.2 innings with four homers against the Houston Astros and to post an 8.38 ERA.

There have been lots of good Red Sox pitchers over the years. Pedro sits at the top but Sale is second. In my opinion, I have to see Sale do well in the postseason for him to beat Pedro as the number one pitcher in Red Sox history. Keeping him well rested heading into the postseason is a good idea. Now he’ll be throwing the heat in October.