Rays Pitching Prospect Tosses No-Hitter in Sixth Minor League Start

The young hurler turned in a dominant performance

Sep 26, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The hat and glove of Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero (13) in the dugout during the game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Tampa Bay Rays fans, and baseball fans in general, may want to start getting familiar with the name Aidan Cremarosa. The right-handed pitcher has begun his professional career by accomplishing something that a lot of other hurlers go their entire lives without doing.

Cremarosa twirled a no-hitter for the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs on Friday. The 22-year-old tossed nine shutout innings and only walked one batter, while striking out 11 in Charleston's 3-0 victory over the Augusta GreenJackets, the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. This was the RiverDogs' first no-hitter since 2018, according to Charleston's social media post. The young righty also only needed 101 pitches to complete this gem of a performance.

This no-hitter comes in just the sixth career minor league start for Cremarosa, who was drafted by the Rays last year in the eighth round. So far in 2026, the 22-year-old has a 2.38 ERA through six Single-A starts, striking out 49 batters in 34 innings. Somewhat surprisingly, though, his 11 strikeouts on Friday aren't even his career high to date. Cremarosa struck out 12 batters on April 7 in the first minor league game of his professional career.

This is just the beginning for Rays prospect Aidan Cremarosa

Apr 6, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; A general view of the stadium before a game between the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

At the time of publication, Cremarosa is an unranked prospect in Tampa Bay's farm system, according to MLB Pipeline. But that is very likely to change if he continues to pitch the way he has so far in 2026.

The young righty was the Rays' eighth-round draft pick in 2025 out of California State University, Fresno. In three seasons at Fresno State, Cremarosa had a 4.65 ERA in 44 games, racking up 156 strikeouts in 143 1/3 innings pitched.

Tampa Bay is well known throughout the baseball world for developing solid major league pitchers. Clearly, the Rays saw something they liked in the 6-foot-3 righty from California, and it's paying off so far. While he's just at the start of his minor league journey, this no-hitter has undoubtedly helped Cremarosa establish himself as a name fans will want to store in the back of their minds and keep tabs on going forward.