Within the last week, a few aces have had close calls with no-hitters. On Friday, Jacob Misiorowski threw what might prove to be the best game of the season when he allowed just one hit in a 95-pitch shutout with 15 strikeouts. A day later, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a perfect game into the eighth inning and a no-hitter into the ninth.
Those brushes with immortality raised an obvious question: Who might be next?
First off, we’re throwing out the stupid combined no-hitter due to personal objections. I just can’t deal with acting like it’s as impressive. This means the last real no-hitter came on Aug. 2, 2024, when Blake Snell pulled it off against the Reds. It’s quite a drought, especially given that the league batting average is just .243. Of course, getting through nine innings is pretty damn tough these days. There have only been nine complete games in 2026, and no pitcher has more than one.
Still, it’s possible, which means we get to dream. Let’s try to figure out the best candidates to throw a no-hitter.
The easy-and-obvious tier
It isn’t always an ace, but aces pull off no-hitters more often than non-aces for obvious reasons. Nolan Ryan had seven. Sandy Koufax had four. More recently, Justin Verlander has three no-hitters, while Max Scherzer has a pair.
Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers – I mean, c’mon. He’s ridiculous. Becoming efficient with his pitch counts puts him on another level. If you had to pick one guy to throw the next no-hitter, here’s your pick.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers – We’ve seen how strong he can be in pressure situations in the playoffs, notably as World Series MVP. He’s really locked in right now, as Yamamoto has a 1.01 ERA in his last five starts. He’s completed the eighth inning in each of his last two starts, too, so the getting-deep-into-games component is certainly there.
Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies – We’ve already seen him go an entire calendar month without allowing a run and he threw a shutout in there. He allowed six hits in that one, but his skill and ability to work deep into games say a no-no is on the table. He’s been relatively close before: in 2024, Sánchez threw a three-hit shutout and also had a complete game with just two hits allowed. Also a good sign: Sánchez has the highest groundball rate in the majors at 56.8% (the league average is 41.4%).
Tarik Skubal, Tigers – We don’t need to bother with his credentials. He’ll need another start or two after coming back from elbow surgery, but Skubal is very obviously the type of pitcher who can pull off a no-hitter. How close has he come? On May 25 last season, he threw a two-hit shutout. That is, however, the only complete game of his career.
Paul Skenes, Pirates – The 2025 National League Cy Young winner only has one complete game and recently, he’s had issues getting late into games. He hasn’t gone more than six innings in his last six starts and he’s been up over 100 pitches in each of the last four. Prior to that six-start stretch, however, Skenes went eight innings with just two hits allowed each in back-to-back starts. That’s right on the precipice.
Strong candidates
Maybe these guys aren’t quite ace tier (yet), but they have the stuff to pull it off like John Means, Joe Musgrove and Homer Bailey (twice!) did. We’ll list them alphabetically here and note we’re in non-exhaustive territory, as so many good pitchers could throw a no-hitter.
Chase Burns, Reds – We’ll need to see a lot more efficiency from Burns before kicking him up a tier, but he certainly has the stuff to join the group listed above. He’s 8-1 with a 2.01 ERA right now. He’s also only finished the seventh inning once and averages roughly 5 ⅔ innings per start. That .192 allowed batting average, though, is tasty. Only Misiorowski (.140) and Yamamoto (.188) are lower.
Kyle Harrison, Brewers – He’s only given up 54 hits in over 65 innings this season and has come into his own as a frontline starter, thriving since being traded to a great Brewers organization. How close has he come? Well, he only gave up two hits in seven scoreless innings on May 20.
Jesús Luzardo, Phillies – He’s inconsistent, but there’s a good profile here for a gem in any given start. Luzardo’s stuff looks amazing via the eye test. He allows the lowest percentage of hard contact in all of baseball (28.9%), and is 12th in groundball rate and 15th in strikeout rate. This is all a recipe for everything to come together one time, right? He’s gone at least seven innings while allowing two or fewer hits six times. He also gave up three hits in eight shutout innings on May 22, 2024.
Drew Rasmussen, Rays – Rasmussen has only given up one run in 21 innings in his last three starts. The outing on June 6 saw him allow just one hit in seven scoreless innings. He only threw 87 pitches in that one, so the hope here is that if there were zero hits allowed, the Rays would allow him to keep going. He’s allowed just a .195 average against this season and is fifth in lowest hard-hit rate.
Cam Schlittler, Yankees – The youngster is tied with Rasmussen in batting average against, trailing only Misiorowski, Yamamoto and Burns. At 6.4 H/9, he has the best hit rate in the American League. We know pressure doesn’t bother him, assuming you remember his first playoff start last October against the Red Sox (8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 12 K). This season, he threw an eight-inning outing with four hits allowed.
Longer shots
While there are plenty of aces with no-hitters, you’ll also see names that don’t feel like they should fit. From somewhat recent years, perhaps you’ll recall Ronel Blanco, Michael Lorenzen, Alec Mills, Tyler Gilbert… we could even go back to Philip Humber. Again, this is listed alphabetically and this is very obviously not an exhaustive list.
Kyle Bradish, Orioles – He’s been up-and-down this season and was coming off two straight bad starts before a good one Wednesday. We’ve seen Bradish resemble a frontline starter before. Three times in his career, he’s gone at least eight innings with no more than three hits allowed and he’s one of seven pitchers with a groundball rate of at least 50%.
Reid Detmers, Angels – He’s already done it and he might be cruising back into that territory. Among his last five starts, we’ve seen eight innings with one hit allowed, six innings with two hits, seven innings with one hit and seven innings with three hits.
J.T. Ginn, Athletics – He took a no-hitter to the ninth on May 18 before losing the game on a walk-off homer. He’s been difficult to hit overall, too, only allowing a .209 opposing batting average and sitting 12th in groundball rate.
George Kirby, Mariners – Seattle’s T-Mobile Park is the most pitcher-friendly yard in the bigs, so that’s a good place to start. By trade, he’s a low-walk guy without a huge strikeout rate and is fifth in groundball rate. Add it up and you’ve got the profile of a pitcher with the ability to have it all come together for one special night.
Andre Pallante, Cardinals – He only allowed four hits in seven innings on Tuesday. That’s a far cry from zero in nine innings, of course, but Pallante is third in groundball rate and is having a bit of a breakout season.
Eury Pérez, Marlins – The stats don’t line up here at the moment. This is a raw stuff pick. Pérez is only 23 and can be electric on the mound. He struck out nine with only three hits allowed last time out. Of course, he only lasted four innings due to a hip injury, but he’ll hopefully be back soon.
Landen Roupp, Giants – He’s here for two reasons. First off, his home ballpark is incredibly pitcher-friendly. Secondly, he trails only Luzardo in the lowest hard-hit rate category — while sitting 10th in groundball rate. A bunch of weak grounders in that ballpark? Hmmm …
