Noah Cameron is doing something rare enough to put him in some elite company, and now the Royals left-hander has a shot at making the list even smaller.
After Sunday’s 1-hit shutout against the Angels, Cameron has three starts this season with at least seven innings pitched and one hit or fewer allowed. According to MLB stats guru Sarah Langs, only three pitchers since 1900 have finished a season with more than three such outings: Dylan Cease in 2024 with five, Bowden Francis in 2024 with four and Grover Alexander in 1915 with four.
Baseball Reference’s Jessica Brand dug even deeper, back to 1898, and found that Cameron is the 32nd pitcher to reach the mark three times in a season. Cease has done it twice, as have Justin Verlander and Nolan Ryan.
Hall of Famers Mordecai Brown, Steve Carlton and Bob Feller are among the pitchers who have done it once. Cameron is the first pitcher in Royals history to pull it off.
With six weeks left in the season, he has a chance to join only Alexander, Francis and Cease in a club that has stood for 128 years. Asked about the names he could match, Cameron kept it simple.
“Grover Alexander? I do not know him,” Cameron said. “Bowden Francis, I don’t know him, but Cease, obviously.”
Francis is currently on the Blue Jays’ 60-day injured list, while Cease is putting together another strong season for Toronto.
Alexander’s place in baseball history is secure. The Hall of Famer won three pitching triple crowns, leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA.
His 1915 season was a monster: 31-10, a 1.22 ERA, 36 complete games, 12 shutouts, 376 1/3 innings pitched, 241 strikeouts and three saves. In that year, the three starts that fit this Cameron stat line came against the Boston Braves, St.
Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.
Cameron said the comparison is cool, even if the names aren’t exactly etched into his memory.
“Yeah, that’s cool,” Cameron said. “Like that’s just the goal, right? Just throw as many innings as possible, and yeah, thankfully it’s just kind of been happening in the last few weeks.”
He’s also been rolling lately. Over his last five outings, Cameron has allowed just five runs on 13 hits with nine walks and 34 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings.
That stretch has lined up with him calling his own pitches, and he says the extra time is a big part of the edge.
“Having those extra 5-10 seconds to kind of visualize and prepare for the pitch, you know, think about it,” Cameron said. “Kind of think about the swing that happened.
The pitch before location, just like that. I think it’s definitely a big part of it.
Instead of getting a sign, changing the grip and throw, you know, there’s 3 seconds there for normal pitcher or catcher signs, all that stuff. But when I go to call my own, I have 10 to 15 seconds.
So I think that’s definitely a big help.”
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