FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chris Sale didn't go to Wisconsin in the summer of 2008 expecting to overhaul his delivery.

Sale was 19 years old that summer, a summer he spent with the La Crosse Loggers of the Northwoods League. He'd just pitched in 21 games, all but one out of the bullpen, as a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast University. He started strong but saw his effectiveness evaporate that summer. He lost his spot in the La Crosse starting rotation and was relegated to the bullpen. Even that role saw him walk almost a batter an inning.

"I needed to change something," he said. "It wasn't working the way I was going."

Sale took notice when he saw another La Crosse pitcher lower his arm slot. That pitcher gained both velocity and movement right away.

Inspired, Sale set about making the same adjustment himself, dropping his arm angle from high three-quarters to low three-quarters. He saw almost the same instant success. His velocity jumped up over 90 miles per hour for the first time. His pitches moved like they'd never moved before. He finished that summer with 74 strikeouts in 53 innings pitched.

"It gave me a little more life," he said. "I started throwing harder. It gave me a little more life, a little more late movement, a little bit more sinking action on my changeup."

"It gave him movement, instant movement -- and everything came out of the same slot," Florida Gulf Coast coach Dave Tollett said.

For Sale, the new delivery matched more closely the natural slot of his arm while he played catch on the side. It better allowed him to leverage the flexibility of a rubber-band frame. Not only did he come out of Florida Gulf Coast at 6-foot-6 and 178 pounds, he has the jaw-dropping ability to cross his elbows behind his back. It came so naturally he didn't even realize until college that nobody else he knew could do that.

And while scouts since then have expressed skepticism the sustainability of that delivery, he pitched at least 135 innings in each of the next two summers -- including the 2010 season in which he rocketed to the major leagues. He has pitched at least 175 innings or made more than 55 relief appearances in each of the six seasons since.

"No two people are the same," he said. "Pitching isn't cookie-cutter development. There's not one way to do it or you're wrong. As long as you repeat your mechanics and you're strong within yourself, those are more important than release point or arm angle. It doesn't matter how you get there. It's if you can do it over and over."

What the new delivery did for Sale was twofold: It created consistency in his release point, and it amplified the movement on his fastball and changeup. He shelved the curveball he'd thrown from his over-the-top delivery, a pitch hitters could see a bit too easily. He instead began to develop a slider, a pitch that fit better within his new delivery. Though that pitch took more time for him to harness, he utilizes that same three-pitch mix to this day.

It was then that the legend of Chris Sale took hold at Florida Gulf Coast.

Midway through his sophomore season, Sale went head-to-head at FGCU's Swanson Stadium with Lipscomb's Rex Brothers, a lefty with a mid-90s fastball and a power slider, a lefty attracting the attention of scouts across the game. He'd be drafted No. 34 overall by Colorado two months later.

"There were general managers here," Tollett said. "There were scouting directors. There were east-coast supervisors. Boy, it was a duel."

Brothers was effective if erratic, walking five to go along with nine strikeouts in his seven innings. Sale was better. Sale struck out eight and walked four in eight innings. Florida Gulf Coast got to the Lipscomb bullpen late and cruised to a 7-1 win.

By the following season, after a summer spent dominating the Cape Cod Baseball League, Sale was the best pitcher in the country -- and he knew it. He struck out 10 or more hitters nine times. He led all NCAA pitchers with 146 strikeouts in all.

Fifteen of those strikeouts came against Belmont in late April, a game in which he allowed merely a walk and an infield single while going the distance. He did all that while -- as his coach only found out later -- throwing up behind the dugout after every inning. He had a stomach virus. He pitched nonetheless.

"I knew he was sick," Tollett said, "I didn't know he was going behind the dugout and puking. The scouts, they loved it. Most guys don't pitch in that situation. He did."

That determination is what comes to mind first for Tollett when he thinks of his old ace. He still remembers the line drive that drilled Sale in the shin, knocking him flat.

"That thing swelled up bigger than a baseball," he said. "He couldn't stand on it. I said, 'Hey, you're done. Come on.' He said, 'You need to get back in that dugout. I'm going to pitch the rest of this game.' I said, 'You can't walk.' He said, 'You need to get back in that dugout. I'll be OK.'"

To the recollection of Tollett, the first warmup pitch Sale threw went to the backstop -- but then he went right back to mowing down the hitters he was facing.

That same determination could endear Sale to Red Sox fans accustomed to cheering for Dustin Pedroia. It also could work against him if he pitches through injury that hampers his performance, as was the case with the fiery John Lackey.

So far, however, the injury so many evaluators saw as inevitable hasn't come. Nearly 10 years after he dropped his arm slot for the first time, Sale remains one of the game's best pitchers. He might just have the anatomy to make it work.

"All those smart analytics guys, all these professional scouts said it wasn't going to work, it wasn't going to hold up," he said with a slight smile. "I don't know how long is long enough to say they were right or wrong."