Blue Jays minor league affiliate throws no-hitter

Down in the Florida Complex League, the lowest minor league affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, three pitchers worked together on Monday to pull off one of baseball's rarest feats: throwing a (combined) no-hitter. This is the second thrown by a Blue Jays affiliate this year and the FCL Blue Jays' first since the 2021 season.

19-year-old Fernando Perez was the starting pitcher in the contest, going seven strong innings with six strikeouts and just one walk. The right-hander has a tall and lanky form (6-foot-3, 170lbs) and has used that to his advantage this season, boasting a strikeout percentage just under 30 and a ground ball percentage just under 50. In nine outings, Perez improved to 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA and 49 strikeouts across 42.2 innings of work this year.

Cobi Johnson, the Blue Jays' 30th-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft who is down in the FCL on a rehab assignment, followed Perez's inning up with a clean inning of his own in the 8th. After missing all of last year with an injury, the 27-year-old is on the comeback trail and aiming to make it back up to High-A Vancouver where he was in 2021 before the injury. In three FCL outings this year, Johnson has a 6.00 ERA with a strikeout and a walk in three innings.

To round things out, 24-year-old Jerry Huntzinger struck out and walked two batters each in the 9th inning. The former two-way player has experience as a catcher and first baseman with the Blue Jays but has turned his attention to focus on pitching. Huntzinger has a 3.68 ERA with 10 strikeouts in just over seven innings of work this season and has shown some encouraging signs as he takes to the mound full-time in professional ball.

In the end, the FCL Blue Jays won the game against the FCL Phillies in 3-0 fashion. On offense, Gregori Cano drove in two runs with another coming around to score on one of three errors the Phillies made in the contest. With Monday's huge win, the FCL Jays improve their record to 15-28 on the season, which is not likely going to be even close to enough to earn a postseason berth down there. However, this is mostly a developmental level, and speaking in terms of development on these players, things are looking solid for these hurlers as they worked together to pull off a once-in-a-lifetime feat.