Orioles sign Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano to 1-year, $13 million deal

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Dec 16, 2024

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — The Orioles have addressed their pitching staff.

In a surprise move, Baltimore signed Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year deal, the team announced Monday. The deal will be for $13 million, a source with direct knowledge of the terms told The Baltimore Sun.

Sugano, 35, has spent his entire professional career with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, putting together a stellar run as one of the country’s best starters. The three-time Central League Most Valuable Player Award winner went 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 111 strikeouts across 156 2/3 innings in 24 starts last season.

For his career, Sugano (whose full name is pronounced toh-moh-yoo-kee soo-GAH-noh) has a 2.45 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in 281 appearances. He won consecutive Eiji Sawamura Awards, NPB’s equivalent to the Cy Young Award, in 2017 and 2018. He earned the pitching triple crown — leading the league in strikeouts, ERA and wins — in the latter season, pitched for Team Japan in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and threw a no-hitter in the 2018 postseason.

Though never a strikeout artist, Sugano has displayed elite command of his six-pitch arsenal and it’s only improved as he’s gotten older. The right-hander issued just 16 free passes last year for a minuscule 2.6% walk rate and hasn’t walked more than 30 batters in a season since 2019. Sugano’s fastball, which he throws about 26% of the time, averages 92 mph, according to NPB Pitch Profiler. He also mixes in a cutter, slider, splitter, sinker and curveball.

The signing of Sugano comes with the Orioles looking to fill the void in their rotation left behind by free agent Corbin Burnes. His agent, Scott Boras, said in a video news conference Monday that the possibility of Burnes returning “boils down to ownership,” noting that the club has been more aggressive under first-year owner David Rubenstein. Burnes is expected to receive a nine-figure contract.

However, Sugano represents the first major free-agent addition to the Orioles’ pitching staff this winter. The club signed outfielder Tyler O’Neill (three years, $49.5 million with a player option after 2025) and catcher Gary Sánchez (one year, $8.5 million) on the day before MLB’s winter meetings to address their offense.

ESPN was first to report the terms of the contract.

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