Comparing 2012's No-Hitters

Homer Bailey tossed the seventh no-hitter of the 2012 season last night, blanking the Pittsburgh Pirates while striking out 10 batters. Bailey mostly stuck with his fastball, throwing it nearly 70% of the time, and he mixed his pitch location by giving Pittsburgh about the same number of pitches at the letters (37% of his pitches were thrown high) as at the knees (34% thrown low).

Here's a look at the pitch frequency heat maps, pitch mix and pitch location for all of 2012's no-hitters. These guys dominated with drastically diverging styles. Bailey emphasized his heater, but Felix Hernandez and Phil Humber relied more on breaking and off-speed stuff. While Jered Weaver challenged hitters high in the zone, Felix, Johan Santana, six Mariners pitchers who threw a combined no-no, and Matt Cain kept the ball low. Humber hammered the strike zone. Johan rarely put anything over the plate. All had different approaches, and all had historic days.

 Homer Bailey - 9/28 at Pittsburgh

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Slider	Curveball	Changeup
69%	17%	9%	5%

Pitch Location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
37%	30%	34%	44%

Felix Hernandez - 8/15 vs. Tampa Bay

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Sinker	Cutter	Slider	Curveball	Changeup
25%	6%	12%	16%	21%	20%

Pitch Location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
21%	28%	50%	47%

 Matt Cain - 6/13 vs. Houston

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Slider	Curveball	Changeup
53%	18%	13%	16%

Pitch Location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
26%	31%	42%	46%

Kevin Millwood, Charlie Furbush, Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League, Tom Wilhelmsen - 6/8 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Sinker	Slider	Cutter	Curveball	Changeup	Splitter
61%	3%	8%	11%	9%	3%	5%

Pitch Location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
26%	36%	39%	51%

Johan Santana - 6/1 vs. St. Louis

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Slider	Changeup
57%	15%	28%

Pitch location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
16%	27%	58%	36%

Jered Weaver - 5/2 vs. Minnesota

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Slider	Cutter	Curveball	Changeup
56%	13%	7%	12%	12%

Pitch Location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
40%	31%	29%	41%

Phil Humber - 4/21 at Seattle

Pitch Mix

Fastball	Slider	Curveball	Changeup
40%	20%	30%	9%

Pitch Location

Up	Middle	Down	In Zone
42%	26%	32%	56%