If there's anyone qualified to compare Jose Quintana and Chris Sale, it's White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper.
Coop presided over both pitchers' rise from prospects to All-Stars, and before the two aces went toe-to-toe at Guaranteed Rate Field, he dropped by SportsTalk Live to measure them up.
"Chris Sale's got three to four miles an hour at least on the fastball," Cooper, who has led the pitching staff on the South Side since 2002, said. "Chris Sale's got a harder, sharper breaking ball. Chris Sale's changeup is better.
"But Jose's whole package, Quintana's whole package is good. He can locate his fastball as good, if not better, than Chris Sale."
What do the two have in common, though? According to Coop, they both pound the zone regularly.
"They both pour strikes in," he said. "The best pitchers I've ever had or the best pitchers I've seen pitch against us - forget about if they throw 98 or 88 - they pour their stuff in the zone."
The 60-year-old then couldn't help but bring a third lefty who donned a Sox jersey into the equation.
MLB
"(Mark Buehrle) dominated the game differently than Chris Sale does," Cooper said. "Chris Sale does it with strikeouts. He's sexier, he gets a lot of strikeouts. Mark Buehrle did it by contact, changing speeds and hitting spots."
One thing is clear: Don Cooper and the Sox have had success with southpaws.