The No-Hitter Phenomenon Poses Many Questions

18 No-Hitters is a trajectory for baseball in 2021. How did we get here and what are the problems with that feat?

Let’s talk pitching:

Last week, Corey Kluber threw the sixth no-hitter of the season and we’re only in May... That’s right, the second month of the six month-long baseball season. This means we are on track to about eighteen no-hitters this season!

While we probably won’t reach that number, I would be shocked if Kluber is the last no-hitter of the season, and heck, I would be surprised if we didn’t reach at least ten this year.

Pitchers are just so dominant now that we expect no-hitters to be pitched with regularity.

There was once a time when a no-hitter was about as rare as receiving a snowstorm in Texas. For example, between the years 2001-2007 only six no-hitters were thrown in total, much different than the nearly weekly occurrences we see today.

We can ask ourselves, is this a problem for baseball? This is a subjective question, but I would argue yes. While no-hitters are fun and exciting, they represent a trend that is not sustainable in Major League Baseball: the dominance of the pitcher.

Currently, league batting average is the lowest it has been since 1968, hovering below .240, at about .237, and team strikeout rates are eclipsing 9K/game, a number that is higher than we have ever seen. Pitching is just lights out, and hitters are only going for the long ball... a terrible equation that leads to low batting averages, high strikeout rates, and many no-hitters, a boring brand of baseball.

I’m a big contact guy.

Sure, “chicks dig the long ball,” but the long ball can also take the fun out of the game. Who else misses the two-out rallies where teams hit one single after another, eventually bringing home their man on an exciting play at the plate?

That’s baseball! That’s the baseball we all grew up playing and loving. Not the baseball where your team swings for the fences every time he reaches the plate, missing the majority of the time and maybe getting lucky for a solo shot. We want bases loaded situations, we want base hits up the middle that score the fast lead-off man at second... We want more hitting!

MLB can help this. A first solution, which may not necessarily solve the no-hitter problem, but can help solve the lights-out pitcher problem, particularly aimed at relief pitchers, is roster limits. Right now, on the 25-man roster, ball clubs typically have about 12 pitchers on average, 5 starters and 7 relievers. While new rules requiring relief pitchers to throw to three batters minimum has helped, relief pitcher dominance continuously serves as an issue.

Starting pitchers are lethal. Most starting pitchers can go twice through an MLB lineup without hitters being able to figure out their stuff, (obviously some exceptions- deGrom and Cole) so that usually gives them about five innings-or-so. Once hitters begin to crack the code, fresh relief pitchers take the helm and have no problems at all throwing what they have to offer at MLB hitters.

The problem is relief pitchers are well-rested and only need to throw one inning at a time.

If roster capacity limits the number of pitchers allowed on the team, teams will be forced to stretch their starters past the normal threshold or have their relievers pitch longer than normally expected, allowing hitters more opportunities to see their pitches or face a more tiring arm on the mound.

It would be interesting to see these effects on batting average and strikeout rates.

Another potential solution that I would love to see are limits on “the shift.” The shift is the demise of the MLB hitter as it allows the fielders to strategically place themselves anywhere, playing exactly where a given player typically hits the ball.

To me, there is nothing more demoralizing than seeing your favorite team hit a hard grounder up the middle, only to see the shortstop playing right behind the bag to make the routine out.

This has to stop as it is ruining the game.

With “the shift,” there is no way for hitters to win. Many players have been conditioned their whole lives to hit lasers up the middle, which doesn’t work anymore. Batters then have to retrain themselves to hit a ball elsewhere, but by that time, the fielders have a new place to position themselves, and the batter won’t be able to reach base yet again.

It is always a losing situation for hitters, and definitely plays a role in the low batting averages that we see today, while furthermore contributes to the rationale behind players deciding to “swing for the fences” instead.

MLB can certainly place restrictions on the shift. They can require infielders to stand somewhere on the dirt on every play so we don’t have infielders standing in the middle of the outfield to play hard ground balls. They could also employ my personal favorite, making sure there are two infielders on each side of second base. That idea seems to make the most sense to me. It allows infielders a great deal of freedom to play where they want, something they should have to an extent, but it also limits the ability to pack one area of the diamond.

This would hopefully allow batting averages to ascend and reduce the number of no-hitters being thrown in baseball today.

Like I said, there is nothing wrong with a no-hitter, I love them just as much as the next guy. However, once no-hitters are being thrown as regularly as LeBron cries after being “fouled,” they don’t seem too special anymore. A no-hitter should be a sacred event, and MLB needs to do everything possible to make sure it is, while in the process, strive to bring the excitement that baseball fans traditionally love back into the game once again.