Last Tuesday night, Chris Heston became the first rookie to throw a no-hitter since Clay Buchholz in 2007. He struck out eleven Mets at Citi Field, walking none while plunking three batters (a first in a no-no), including Anthony Recker in the 9th inning. Heston struck out other three batters he faced in the final frame, becoming the first pitcher to strike out the side in the 9th inning of a no-hitter since Sandy Koufax in 1965. These are the facts surrounding the rookie’s early career highlight, but the biggest question coming out of Tuesday’s game is: who is this guy?
The Giants have thrown four no-hitters in the past four years, three by household names Tim Lincecum (who threw two) and Matt Cain, with the fourth coming from Chris Heston, a 27-year-old rookie who, prior to Tuesday, was on less than 25% of Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league rosters.
Heston, born in Palm Bay, Florida, has had a long road to the Majors. He attended Seminole Community College and East Carolina University and was drafted twice, in the 47th and 29th rounds, without signing. Heston was then picked by the San Francisco Giants in the 12th round of the 2009 draft and signed with the team. Heston struggled through his first few years in the minors before finding success in Double-A, where he made the Eastern League All-Star team. Heston was then designated for assignment in 2013 before clearing waivers and being re-signed eight days later. The righty finally made his big league debut in September of 2014, where he made two scoreless relief appearances and a start in which he went four innings and surrendered three runs.
Heston was set to spend the early part of this season in the Minors, but was called up to the Giants on April 7 due to Matt Cain’s injury. To date, the rookie’s season has been defined by inconsistency and unpredictability. Prior to Tuesday, Heston had given up five or more runs in five of his eleven starts this season, while surrendering one run or less in the rest of his outings. On May 12, Heston struck out eleven batters in a complete-game one-run effort against the first place Astros. That outing, however, was sandwiched between two starts in which he pitched a total of seven innings and surrendered ten earned runs. These up-and-down swings have been indicative of Heston’s Major League career to date and add even further mystery to the game on that vaulted him into the history books. So what exactly happened at Citi Field last Tuesday night?
Watching the game, I was struck by how little danger the no-hit bid appeared to be in all night. Perhaps the three hit batters helped ease Heston’s (and my) stress about every pitch needing to be perfect, but there were not even many close plays. Often in no-hitters there will be a defining defensive moment that helps preserve the effort, but outside of Brandon Crawford’s nice stop in the 9th (which was pretty routine for Crawford), this game lacked even the threat of a hit from the Mets. MLB.com’s Mike Petriello analysed the Statcast numbers to help explain how Heston appeared to breeze through the game.
Part of Heston’s success was that he was able to avoid almost any hard contact from Mets hitters, as no ball left the bat with an exit velocity of over 100 miles per hour. Much of this was due in part to Heston’s sinker, which was moving a season-high average of 7.8 inches. The sinker movement helped Heston record eighteen outs via that one pitch. A successful sinker can not only induce groundouts, but also helped Heston strike out a career-high eleven hitters.
But before we grow too keen on Heston, let us remember that the ability to put together an outstanding start early in one’s Major League career, before opposing hitters know what to expect, is not much of an indicator for prolonged excellence (just ask the always unpredictable Clay Buchholz). In fact, we can count on stormy waters ahead for the 27 year-old, as he tries to replicate his sinker success without getting caught up on the idea of posting another blemish-free outing. Heston’s talent has been clear in half of his starts now, while the other half have been typical of a young pitcher suffering growing pains throughout his first games. If he can consistently capture that sinker movement and avoid hard contact the way he did Tuesday, there may be more magic in store for Chris Heston. But if Heston continues to post hot and cold numbers all season, even his frustrated fantasy owners (as he is now owned in 38% of Yahoo leagues) can be happy for a young man who has already put together an amazing start on a night he will never forget.