3 No-Hitters Aren’t Enough to Get Pitcher Tom Drees to Big Leagues

Vancouver pitcher Tom Drees has to wonder how to get to the major leagues. Apparently, pitching three no-hitters in one season doesn’t work.

Drees, 26, accomplished the feat as the Canadians downed the Las Vegas Stars 5-0 Wednesday night in the first game of a double-header. In the minor leagues, double-header games are seven innings each.

The performance, witnessed by Larry Himes, vice president and general manager of the parent Chicago White Sox, tied a mark set in 1952, when Bill Bell threw three no-hit games in the Class D Appalachian rookie league.

Drees’ first two no-hitters came in back-to-back starts. He blanked the Calgary Cannons 1-0 in a nine-inning game May 23, then beat the Edmonton Trappers 7-0 in a seven-inning game May 28.

However, the White Sox have no plans to promote Drees. In fact, the team has already told the pitcher to report to the Florida Instructional League after the PCL season, beginning in mid-September.

Vancouver pitching coach Moe Drabowsky said Drees, 11-10, needs to develop more consistency and to strengthen his pitching shoulder, which was operated on last December.