Tomoyuki Sugano

Tomoyuki Sugano

35-Year-Old PitcherSP
Baltimore Orioles
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Sugano was posted by the Yomiuri Giants prior to the 2021 season, when he was a 31-year-old coming off a season in which he recorded a 1.97 ERA and 0.89 WHIP, but he failed to land with an MLB club and wound up returning to Japan. Given his age, that seemed like the end of his MLB dream, especially when his ERA rose north of 3.00 and sat right around league average for three straight seasons. But 2024 was a renaissance campaign for the veteran righty, who cruised to a 1.67 ERA and 0.95 in 24 starts, and his second attempt at coming stateside landed him a one-year, $13 million deal with the Orioles. With career NPB numbers that rival those of Masahiro Tanaka and Kenta Maeda, Sugano could have been a mid-rotation MLB starter or better at his peak, but this version looks much more borderline. Sugano possesses a six-pitch mix and showed elite control (2.6 BB%) last year, but his fastball averages a modest 92 mph and his low strikeout rate (18.3%) means he could allow an uncomfortable amount of balls in play against the best hitters in the world. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#328
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $13 million contract with the Orioles in December of 2024.
Makes spring debut
PBaltimore Orioles
February 26, 2025
Sugano gave up two hits and a walk over two scoreless innings during his Grapefruit League debut against the Pirates on Wednesday.
ANALYSIS
The Orioles anticipated Sugano throwing 35-to-40 pitches during his first spring outing, but the 35-year-old righty was able to get through his scheduled two innings on just 28 pitches -- 17 of which were strikes. He said after the game that he was primarily focused on getting used to pitching in a new environment and communicating with his catcher, and he'll look to work more on pitch sequencing during his next start, per Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. Sugano is expected to open the season in Baltimore's starting rotation after turning in a 1.67 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over 156.2 innings with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball in 2024.
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2025
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2021
2017
The past few Japanese import pitchers may have failed to make much of a mark, but Sugano's 2.32 career NPB ERA looks a lot more like Masahiro Tanaka (2.30) or Kenta Maeda (2.39) than Shun Yamaguchi (3.35) or even Yusei Kikuchi (2.77). The 31-year-old has established himself as one of the top pitchers in his home country over the course of his eight-year career, riding excellent command (seen in his career 4.9 BB%) and a full repertoire to a pair of Eiji Sawamura Awards, Japan's Cy Young equivalent. While his age means he doesn't have too many peak seasons left, he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, posting a 1.97 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 24.6 K% in 2020. A repeat of his NPB numbers is too much to ask given the step up in competition, but he looks quite likely to be at minimum a mid-rotation option for a few years, with the potential for something more.
A top pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants, he had a sparkling 189:26 K:BB performance last season.
More Fantasy News
Reports to camp
PBaltimore Orioles
February 15, 2025
Sugano reported to Orioles camp Saturday.
ANALYSIS
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Delayed by visa issues
PBaltimore Orioles
February 13, 2025
Sugano has yet to report to Orioles camp due to visa issues but is expected to arrive this weekend, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latches on with Orioles
PBaltimore Orioles
December 16, 2024
Sugano signed a one-year, $13 million contract with Baltimore on Monday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Meeting with MLB teams in December
PFree Agent
October 29, 2024
Sugano is expected to meet with major-league teams in December, Yahoo Sports Japan reports.
ANALYSIS
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Coming to MLB in 2025
PFree Agent
October 4, 2024
Sugano is expected to sign with a major-league team this offseason as an international free agent, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Halos one team to watch
PFree Agent
November 19, 2024
The Angels are expected to be in the mix to sign Sugano, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports.
ANALYSIS
Sugano is an international free agent this offseason and therefore does not have to go through the posting system. The 35-year-old is expected to meet with teams in December, and it would appear the Angels are likely to be one of those clubs. Sugano held a 1.67 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 111:16 K:BB over 156.2 innings for the Yomiuri Giants in 2024.
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