ARLINGTON, TEXAS – APRIL 09: Joe Musgrove #44 of the San Diego Padres celebrates with Victor Caratini #17 after pitching a no-hitter against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on April 09, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. This was the Padres first no-hitter in franchise history. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Joe Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history on Friday night, and catcher Victor Caratini pulled off a rare feat of his own.
Joe Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres history on Friday night, and he was one hit batter shy of authoring a perfect game against the Texas Rangers. But for catcher Victor Caratini, it was also a notable night.
Last September, Alec Mills threw a no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs. Caratani was behind the plate for that performance too.
Plenty of catchers have caught multiple no-hitters. Some have even done it in close proximity, in terms of no-hitters thrown in MLB as a whole.
Victor Caratini is in rare company
The last catcher to catch back-to-back MLB no-hitters was Ryan Hanigan, who caught Homer Bailey’s no-hitters for the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 28, 2012 and July 2, 2013. Before that, Jason Varitek caught back-to-back no-hitters from Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester for the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and 2008. Here’s the rest of that back-to-back MLB no-hitters caught list, in order from most recent to oldest.
- Ray Hundley (April 16 and Sept. 2,1972)
- Del Crandall (Aug. 18 and Sept. 16, 1960)
- Yogi Berra (July 12 and Sept. 28, 1951)
- Ernie Lombardi (June 11 and 15, 1938 for Johnnie Vander Meer’s back-to-back no-hitters)
- Luke Sewell (Aug. 31, 1935 and June 1, 1937)
- Hank Severeid (May 5 and May 6, 1917)
- Rudy Kemmler (May 29 and June 5, 1884)
- Dan Sullivan (Sept. 11 and 19, 1882)
Caratini is the only one to catch back-to-back no-hitters in two different uniforms.
Caratini came to the Padres in the offseason trade headlined by Yu Darvish also coming to San Diego from the Cubs. He has started 112 games behind the plate to this point in his career, including 92 complete games. So far this season, he’s hitting .313 with a home run and seven RBIs in five games.
With Austin Nola out, Caratini has been the Padres’ primary catcher early this season. But the way it’s going with catching no-hitters, he’ll either keep the job or have the starting rotation clamoring for him to be their “personal catcher.”