The next great Japanese pitcher is coming stateside next season.
Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano will become a Major League Baseball international free agent, paving the way to join a big league club this winter, according to ESPN.
Sugano is one of the top arms to come out of Japan in recent years.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, posting a 15-3 record with a 1.67 ERA while striking out 111 batters and walking just 16 over 156 ⅔ innings.
Over 12 Nippon Professional Baseball seasons, Sugano is 136-74 with a sparkling 2.43 ERA.
He’s a two-time winner of the Sawamura Award — the NPB’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award — and has won the ERA title four times.
Sugano is the rare hurler with six reliable pitches.
He averages 92 mph with his four-seam fastball and mixes in a two-seamer.
Sugano also features a cutter and slider while mixing in a splitter and curveball.
He’s set to join a long list of Japanese pitchers to make a move to the big leagues in recent years, following Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kodai Senga and Shota Imanaga, among many others.
Sugano may not be the biggest name to come from Japan this offseason, though.
Flame-thrower Roki Sasaki, who’s still only 22 years old, is also expected to come to MLB this winter if his team decides to post him.
Sasaki, who has been called the best Japanese prospect since Ohtani, asked to be posted last offseason, although it is reportedly unlikely that the Chiba Lotte Marines would accept his request.
He had another dominant season for the Marines in 2024 with a 2.35 ERA over 111 innings.
