Former Guardians farmhand you'd never expect just threw a minor-league perfect game with Brewers 

For parts of 4 1/2 seasons, Thomas Pannone lingered in the Guardians’ minor league system. A ninth round pick in 2013, Pannone made it all the way to Double-A Akron with Cleveland before he was dealt to the Blue Jays at the 2017 trade deadline in exchange for reliever Joe Smith. 

That set up a wild ride for Pannone, who recorded big league time with the Blue Jays in 2018 and 2019 and has bounced around to five big league organizations in the time since along with having two stints in Korea. 

And he recorded a bit of history in his latest stop on Monday when he pitched a perfect game with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate against Durham, making him the first pitcher to throw an individual perfect game in the minors Tyler Mahle (Double-A) and Domenic Mazza (Single-A) did it during the 2017 season. 

Pannone’s perfect game was about as dominant of an outing as you can get, as he recorded eight strikeouts and only threw 94 pitches (61 strikes). 

Former Guardians prospect Thomas Pannone just threw a perfect game for the Brewers' Triple-A affiliate

Although a Triple-A lineup is never going to have the same kind of firepower as a big league lineup, Pannone’s accomplishment came against a Durham lineup that included five players with big league experience (Nick Madrigal, Carson Williams, Jack Suwinski, Blake Sabol and Logan Davidson).

Pannone has had a bit of an interesting journey with the Brewers, who signed him to a minor league contract ahead of the 2023 season and added him to their big league roster that June. 

He made one appearance before being DFA’d, and spent the rest of the season in Korea (where he also pitched in 2022). He spent 2024 in the Cubs and Yankees’ organizations, and re-signed with the Brewers. 

He missed all of the 2025 season with a torn flexor tendon, but has been healthy this year. They recalled him for his first big league start in nine years earlier this year, but was outrighted to Triple-A after making one appearance. 

Although Pannone’s perfect game was a dominant performance that raised his profile, he still may not get a big league call-up out of it. 

If anything, the mere fact that he was able to go all nine innings says something about where he stands since teams usually don’t want to overwork pitchers in the minors so they can save their bullets for the big leagues. 

Pannone had shown some flashes previously in his career (he opened the 2017 season with 33 1/3 scoreless innings that helped the Guardians sell high on him), but he’d never had a start like Monday’s in his career. 

And regardless of what the rest of that career looks like, he’s always going to be able to say that he pitched a perfect game.

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