This Reds pitcher feels like the next one to finally throw a no-hitter

The Cincinnati Reds have thrown 17 no-hitters in franchise history, though none have come since Wade Miley's bid for perfection against the Cleveland Guardians in 2021. The near-five-year gap between now and then isn't quite the longest between no-hitters in Reds history — that would be the 14-year gap between Tom Browning's perfect game (1988) and Homer Bailey's first no-no (2012) — but it has been a while since Reds fans were treated to some pitching history.

Luckily, there's no shortage of starting pitchers on the roster capable of the feat. Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo all threw a complete-game shutout this past season, and Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns have the top-prospect pedigree to deserve a place in this discussion.

So, who's going to throw the next no-hitter for the Reds?

Nick Lodolo is most likely Reds pitcher to throw a no-hitter in 2026

Admittedly, predicting a feat of this nature is something of a fool's errand. Hardly anyone predicted Miley — who had a 5.65 ERA in just 14 1/3 innings in 2020 — to carve up the Guardians on May 7, 2021, but that's the beauty of baseball.

Greene is probably the "safest" pick thanks to his credentials (2.76 ERA since the start of 2024) and raw stuff (career 30.0% strikeout rate), but no-hitters require a pitcher to maintain their dominance over nine innings. The right-hander only has two complete games to his name, and the batting average he surrenders jumps by nearly 20 points when facing an order a second time. That's not exactly conducive to this particular achievement.

However, it is Nick Lodolo that has nearly all of the right ingredients to make Reds history (so long as he remains in Cincinnati).

The 27-year-old southpaw handled a career-high workload in 2025 and threw two complete games, including a four-hitter against the Nationals in July when he walked zero batters. That isn't a requirement for a no-hitter, but it does keep the pitch count down and traffic off the base paths which are important for maintaining a pitcher's stuff deep into games.

It's true that Lodolo got hit harder the second time through the order this year, but he also settled back in when allowed to pitch deeper into games.

Nick Lodolo, Batting Average Allowed in 2025
1st time through order: .211
2nd time through order: .256
3rd time through order: .219

Again, this is an inexact science. There's nothing guaranteeing that Lodolo will, on any given day, have the right combination of stuff and stamina to make history. But the right pieces are in place. Insofar as any Reds pitcher is going to throw a no-hitter in 2026, Lodolo feels like a good a bet as any.