Tomoyuki Sugano

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