March 27--GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Chris Sale's joy at facing hitters again Friday was evident from his frequent smiles while on the mound and his handshakes and hugs for each of the White Sox players that faced him at Camelback Ranch.
In another step back from a fractured foot and sprained ankle, Sale threw a simulated game, with five sets of 15 pitches, an outing he called "a big confidence booster" one month after his injury. The Sox left-hander said he mixed in all of his pitches and even threw some with maximum effort.
"I want to see how it feels when I'm max effort," Sale said. "I don't want to baby this thing along and first time I try to have a max effort is in a game and you run into problems there. You try to build up, put as much stress on it here as I can so when the season comes I can handle it."
Sale said the next step will be to work on his side-to-side movement and cutting on Monday, though he did make a behind-the-back grab of a line drive he joked was "the most athletic I've ever been on the baseball field."
Pitching coach Don Cooper said he thinks Sale is ready to pitch in a game now and said they likely will use him in a minor-league game before he rejoins the Sox. He thinks a target return date of April 11 or 12 remains feasible.
Sox manager Robin Ventura said Sale's arm strength looked good and said watching his first outing facing hitters was less stressful than it might have been if he were coming back from an arm ailment.
"The good thing is we are not sitting there thinking every pitch he's going to blow out his arm," Ventura said. "It wasn't his elbow or shoulder or anything. It's not those normal things where you sit there and worry about every single pitch."
