Atlanta Braves Chris Sale Wins NL Comeback Player of the Year

While he’s won awards of a similar nature this offseason, Sale now has the biggest comeback award to his name

Chris Sale is now the NL comeback player of the year / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale has been named the National League Comeback Player of the Year. 

Chris Sale is your 2024 NL Comeback Player of the Year! 😤 pic.twitter.com/Py8W2bHJJx

— MLB (@MLB) November 15, 2024

He received the recognition for the renaissance season he had in his first year with the Braves.

For context, for the better part of the five seasons leading up to 2024, Sale’s career had been derailed by injuries, ranging from Tommy John Surgery to a bike accident. 

When he was healthy enough to take the mound, he was mostly ineffective.

However, come this season, he returned to form and looked like his old self. And while that along would have warranted Comeback Player of the Year, his return was historic. 

Sale finished leading the National League in wins (18), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225) - winning the first National League Triple Crown since Clayton Kershaw in 2011. 

For good measure, he also led the league in FIP (2.09), ERA+ (174), strikeouts per nine innings (11.4) and home runs per nine innings (0.5). 

Sale made the eighth all-star game of his career and his first since 2018. 

This award is just one of a number he has already won this offseason - including awards of this exact nature. 

He won Outstanding Pitcher of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year at the Players Choice Awards .He was was also named the NL Comeback Player of the Year by Sporting News.

By this point, everyone agrees he is worthy of the comeback player honor for 2024. The players and the writers all agree now.

Sale won the NL pitcher’s Gold Glove Award. It is the first one of his career.

All that is left for him now is the grandest award for pitchers: The Cy Young Award. While he’s been a finalist before and received votes many times, he’s yet to win one. 

In a year he’s racking up the awards, it’s looking like this could finally be his year.