The Orioles announced the signing of former NPB star Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year contract. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the right-hander is guaranteed $13MM. Baltimore had an opening on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary. Sugano is represented by VC Sports Group.
Sugano makes the jump to Major League Baseball for the first time in what’ll be his age-35 season. He’s one of Japan’s most accomplished pitchers. The 6’1″ right-hander spent 12 years with the Yomiuri Giants in his home country. He posted a 2.43 earned run average in more than 1800 innings at the NPB level.
菅野 智之投手、オリオールズへようこそ！
Welcome to the O’s, Tomoyuki! pic.twitter.com/MghW5OIpIF
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) December 17, 2024
Major league scouts have naturally followed Sugano for some time. He first appeared on many fans’ radars when the Yomiuri Giants made him available via the posting system during the 2020-21 offseason. Sugano was coming off a 1.97 ERA showing in his age-30 season at the time. While he certainly attracted attention from big league clubs that offseason, he didn’t find a deal that compelled him to leave Japan. Instead, Sugano returned to the Giants on a four-year deal that paid him $40MM.
That contract allowed Sugano to opt out after each season, potentially clearing a path for him to make the move to MLB each offseason. He was evidently happy with his longtime club and decided not to take any of the early outs. Once the contract concluded, his camp made clear he intended to sign with an MLB team this offseason. Sugano had surpassed the nine years of NPB service time necessary to qualify for international free agency. Yomiuri will not receive any compensation for his departure, nor will the deal cost the Orioles anything other than the player’s salary.
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