Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

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Vic
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Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#1 Post by Vic »

Is this the year of the no-hitter in the PEBA-verse?

Well, here’s a shocking answer: it depends.

If you’re looking at the major league level, the answer is a flat “no.” So far, at least, Amsterdam’s Salvador Cantú has thrown the lone PEBA no-hitter - against San Antonio on May 22.



But if you look at the AAA or Short A levels, the answer is, “Well, sure looks like it.”

And if you look just a bit deeper, you’ll find that the number of no-hitters in the minors has been on the rise pretty much across all levels in recent seasons, with one exception.

We’ll get to that in a moment.

First, here’s what’s happening now:

The AAA Global Baseball Brotherhood so far this season has recorded five no-hitters, including one perfect game. This matches the all-time high number of no-nos for the league recorded in 2027 … and there are still six weeks left in this season!



In the first six weeks of the Short-A Surf and Snow Amalgamation schedule, four pitchers have thrown no-hitters. That matches the previous full-season high (four), recorded in 2027 and 2026. With nine weeks left in the Surf and Snow schedule (it goes deeper into September than the other levels), the odds look good for the league to break its record.

The Class A North American Farm Affiliation also has seen a good number of no-hitters: four so far this season, including a perfect game. That’s two below the all-time record of six, set in 2025, but there are still six weeks left in the season, so who knows?



That leaves the AA Great Northern League yet to be heard from. So far, it’s been a quiet year there: just one no hitter. The record for the Great Northern is 4, recorded in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Last season, there were 3.

As for the larger pattern, no-hitters have become much more common in recent years – especially in the lower minors.

• The Surf and Snow has averaged 3.6 no-hitters per season since 2025, compared to 1.0 from 2008-2024.

• NAFTA has averaged 4.25 per year since 2022, compared to 0.53 per season from 2007 to 2021.

• AAA has averaged 3.5 per season since 2026 , compared to 1.2 from 2007 to 2025.

The sole exception to this minor league pattern, as you might guess from its current season numbers, is the AA Great Northern. Its peak years for no-hitters were 2022-2024, which had 4 each. The average since then, however, has been 1.6.

How about the majors?

No-hitters are still reasonably rare events in the PEBA. The all-time record year for no hit games was 2015, with five. There have been three seasons with four: 2023, 2013, and 2009. But, since 2023, the average number of no-hitters in the majors has been a miserly 1.66 per season.

Will the minor league trend eventually catch on in the PEBA, or will the higher grade of hitting keep no-hitters relatively rare?

The only way to answer that is to … Play Ball!
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Re: Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#2 Post by MikeB »

John Sullivan is the only player in my system to throw a no-hitter in the minors. Did it twice. He likely will never get the opportunity in the PEBA.
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Re: Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#3 Post by Leones »

This is interesting. Nice work!
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Re: Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#4 Post by Borealis »

I'd be curious how many Perfect Games have there been? I know of one...

EDIT: Here's the answer to this question... Looks like 5...
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Re: Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#5 Post by Fishermen »

I like all the coverage on the minor leagues.
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Re: Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#6 Post by Lions »

I was just looking through the league accomplishments and noticed that Reno prospect Masakazu Nishimura's April 22 no-hitter was called in the 8th inning due to rain. So he didn't throw a full game no-hitter, recording 7 2/3 innings pitched. He got credit for that no-hitter as well as a perfect game... what I didn't realize until now was that those games were consecutive! His perfect game came against Provo on 4/27. Given his nickname is Badger... it seems reasonable he should be playing for us.

Speaking of playing for us, José Orozco's recent no-hitter was the first in Grand Rapids Rafters history.

At the PEBA level, 2012 is the only year that did not see at least one no-hitter.
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Re: Year of the No-Hitter in the Minors?

#7 Post by Alleghenies »

Borealis wrote:I'd be curious how many Perfect Games have there been? I know of one...

EDIT: Here's the answer to this question... Looks like 5...

I didn't see my pitcher with a perfect game, but I just glanced. alcorta had one on 8/11/24
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