As he nears the end of his first Major League season, Tomoyuki Sugano is looking to make it an encore, as he tells the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka that he is hoping to return to the bigs in 2026. Sugano will be a free agent this winter after the expiration of the one-year, $13MM contract he signed with the Orioles last offseason.
The right-hander chose to come to North America on the heels of a very successful and decorated 12-year run with the Yomiuri Giants, and the transition from NPB to MLB naturally came with a few bumps. Sugano has a 4.39 ERA over 28 starts and 149 2/3 innings, and this durability alone was a plus for a Baltimore team plagued by pitching injuries.
An excellent 5.5% walk rate is Sugano’s biggest calling card, but his other metrics have been much shakier. Both Sugano’s strikeout rate (15.6%) and barrel rate (11.4%) rank only in the seventh percentile of all pitchers, and only seven pitchers have surrendered more home runs than Sugano’s 28 big flies. There’s still time for Sugano to improve on these numbers, though keeping the ball in the park will be tricky since his last two starts are scheduled to come against the powerful Yankees.
Sugano has a six-pitch arsenal, headlined by a splitter that he threw 23.5% of the time. Looking back on his first Major League campaign, Sugano told Kostka that he felt he didn’t take full advantage of his pitch variety, as batters caught onto the righty’s habits of tossing high fastballs and splitters lower in the zone. Sugano’s traditional four-seamer didn’t fool many hitters, as Statcast graded the 92.7mph pitch with a -4 Pitch Value.
Looking ahead to next season, Sugano said that “from a personal standpoint, I know why I wasn’t successful. I know what to fix for next year.” He also made another midseason adjustment in taking efforts to prevent tipping pitches, and in general, it is fair to view any rookie season (even when the rookie is 35 years old) as a learning period for a pitcher facing MLB hitters for the first time.
Sugano turns 36 next month, so another one-year deal seems like a lock for any interested teams. Sugano’s advanced metrics won’t hold much appeal to some analytically-inclined front offices, yet his strong control and ability to take the ball every fifth day will work in his favor. Speculatively speaking, the Giants and Angels were both interested in Sugano last offseason, and could check in again once he is back on the market. A reunion with the Orioles can’t be ruled out, depending on how Baltimore chooses to address its rotation needs.