ATLANTA — Kutter Crawford had just transferred to Florida Gulf Coast University in the fall of 2016 when he first laid eyes on Chris Sale. While throwing on the left field line with his teammates, Crawford caught a glimpse of the program’s most famous baseball alum arriving for some offseason work.
“I remember him showing up to the field,” Crawford recalled Wednesday. “Just a tall, lanky guy walking over the field like he owned the place. I’m like, ‘Damn, who’s this guy walking up here like he owns the place?’ And as he got closer, it clicked. I was like, ‘Oh (expletive), that’s Chris Sale. He does own the place.’”
Little did Crawford know that within a few years, Sale would turn into a teammate, mentor and one of his closest friends. Before the Red Sox took on the Sale for the first time since trading him to the Braves for Vaughn Grissom in December, Crawford acknowledged the game would be “different” than most while taking some time to describe the impact Sale had made on his career.
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“He’s a mentor, but we’re friends,” said Crawford, who is almost exactly seven years younger than Sale. “Obviously he’s got more life experience than me. I’m not going to call him old, but he’s got three kids and all that. He’s more of an adult for sure. But we can relate on some things outside of baseball and I think it makes us pretty good friends.
“It meant a lot to have somebody that you can lean on and comfortably pick their brain, ask some questions and you feel like you’re not necessarily going to be on their nerves, like that rookie that’s asking too many questions. He helped me tremendously.”
During Crawford’s lone year at FGCU, he’d occasionally pick Sale’s brain on baseball-related items but the two never got close. Once the righty was drafted by the Red Sox in June 2017 — just seven months after the Red Sox acquired Sale from the White Sox — things changed. Crawford and Sale spent the following offseason working out together in southwest Florida and Sale kept tabs on Crawford as he ascended through the system before making his major league debut in Sept. 2021.
“When I got drafted, our relationship really started to pick up from that point,” Crawford said.
By the time 2022 rolled around, Crawford and Sale had grown very close. The two spent a large chunk of the winter before the 2022 season holding private workouts at their alma mater with Nick Pivetta, Josh Winckowski, Matt Barnes and others joining in.
“I remember going into ‘22, everybody got together at the school there and (Sale) was the leader with Nick (Pivetta),” said manager Alex Cora. “Obviously, it’s somebody you look up to. He grew up in that program. Chris was a huge part not only on the field, but financially for them.”
In offseason sessions and the big league clubhouse, Sale taught Crawford what it took to be a major leaguer, even when Sale himself wasn’t healthy. As the mutual respect grew between the pair, Crawford’s confidence grew. Sale’s influence was no small part of Crawford’s rise that has him considered one of the best starters in baseball through a month of the 2024 season.
“(He contributed) a lot, because he put that mentality in me of going out there every fifth day. No matter how your body feels, you have a job to do, you get paid to go out there and try to go six, seven innings and give your team the best chance to win. There’s days I saw him not feel good at all. He goes out there and he puts everything out there on the line and I admired that and I carry that with me on my start days.
“He’s a guy that doesn’t think a whole lot. He just goes out there and competes. And I cherish that about him. I think it’s great that he just goes out there and puts it all on the line and competes every single day.”
On the afternoon of Dec. 30, Crawford was driving to Tampa when he got a somewhat cryptic text from Sale, who said he needed to talk to his teammate about something urgent. The teammates weren’t able to connect, and minutes later, Crawford saw the news that the Red Sox had shipped Sale to Atlanta. The immediate reaction was one of shock.
“It was rough,” Crawford said. “He didn’t get to (call me) until a little bit later that day, obviously, because probably a lot of stuff was going on. But that one stung a little bit. I was a little disappointed. But it was not a bad situation for him. At the time, he thought it would help us. So it was selfless of him because he had to approve the trade and everything.
“I was a little disappointed. I get it. I understand everything. It’s the nature of the business we’re in.”
Despite being in different places, Sale and Crawford still keep in touch. Cora credited Sale with still having a positive impact on both Crawford and Tanner Houck, who have been Boston’s two best starters this season. Crawford checks in on Sale on occasion and Sale has made sure to text Crawford after a couple of his starts early in the year. The two had a chance to catch up at Truist Park on Tuesday.
“They still have conversations,” Cora said. “Kutter is a good one and he had a huge influence on him.”
Crawford, who took a no decision after tossing six solid innings in Tuesday’s loss, was hoping he’d be able to line up against his good friend and pitch on the same day. It turns out they were one day off. Instead, Crawford will be in the visiting dugout doing what he has done so often over the last half-decade. Watching Sale and learning.
“It was great being able to share a clubhouse with him,” he said.
