5 Black Friday NY Mets free agent starting pitcher deals David Stearns can buy

4) Tomoyuki Sugano

Roki Sasaki isn’t the only Japanese star pitcher looking to find a contract from a MLB team this season. Veteran right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano is also looking to capitalize on his strong career in the NPB to sign a Major League deal this winter. Sugano was originally posted during the 2020-2021 off-season with the hopes of finding a deal. He’ll once again explore what MLB teams have to offer this winter.

Sugano is coming off a great season with the Yomiuri Giants, working to a 1.67 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 6.94 K:BB ratio. Sugano was one of the best pitchers in the Japan Central League. His ERA was the second best among starters, and led his fellow rotation arms in WHIP, and K:BB ratio. Sugano has excellent command and walked just 2.6% of opponents. His 18.2% walk rate may not look great on paper, but it was about league average. 

Sugano uses his excellent command over a wide variety of pitches. Last season, he used three of his pitches at least 20% of the time. His low-90s four-seamer was his most used pitch, with his upper-80s cutter and low-80s slider being his next most used offerings. He’ll also incorporate a mid-80s splitter into the mix. The two offerings he used less than 10% of the time were his low-90s sinker and upper-70s curveball. But among his six pitches, only his four-seamer did not grade out as above average in terms of Stuff+. Sugano graded out as an outstanding pitcher according to the NPB Pitcher Profiler App.

The only question is how Sugano would adjust to Major League batters. The environment is much different in US baseball than Japan baseball. The league average ERA and OPS in the Japan Central League was 2.88 and .645 last year, making it a league that heavily favors pitchers. But he still dominated opponents in Japan, even once you consider how pitcher friendly the league is, and has good enough stuff with outstanding command that should make him an effective MLB starter.