Sources – Tomoyuki Sugano is moving to the MLB after his Japanese career

According to ESPN sources, right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, the winningest Japanese pitcher of his generation who spent his entire career in Nippon Professional Baseball, will join Major League Baseball as an international free agent this winter.

Sugano, who turns 35 in a week, is in the midst of a renaissance season in which he posted a 1.67 ERA in 24 starts for the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants. A two-time Sawamura Award winner – the equivalent of the Cy Young – a two-time Central League MVP and four-time ERA champion, his resurgence paved the way for him to finally reach the MLB.

In 2020, the Yomiuri Giants signed Sugano and he was expected to sign with a major league team. However, he failed to reach an agreement before the posting deadline and eventually returned to Tokyo, where his uncle, legendary Giants manager Tatsunori Hara, continued to manage the team.

Hara retired before this season and Sugano made an exceptional pitch to Shinnosuke Abe, the longtime Giants catcher to whom Sugano threw for years. This season, Sugano has averaged 92 mph with his four-seam fastball while relying on a two-seam fastball. He uses both an 82 mph slider and an 87 mph cutter about 20% of the time, and he can bury a splitter at 86 mph and field a curveball at 77. Sugano has positive run numbers on all six pitches this season, according to DeltaGraphs.

This six-pitch mix stunned NPB hitters. Only Hiroto Takahashi, Chunichi's 22-year-old ace who is expected to move to the MLB later, has a better ERA at 1.38. What Sugano lacks in speed, he makes up for in control and pitching ability. In 156⅔ innings this season, Sugano has allowed just 16 runs and allowed just six home runs — in a league with a home run rate half that of MLB — while posting 111 strikeouts.

Unlike posted players, international free agents are not subject to any restrictions on their signing. NPB players receive the right to international free agency after nine seasons. Sugano has spent a dozen years with the Giants, posting a 136-75 record, including a league-high 15-3 total this year, and he's still willing to pitch for Yomiuri in the Central Climax Series . He led the Central League in ERA four times, first as MVP in 2014 and then three straight years from 2016 to 2018. He was also MVP in 2020.

Almost all of Sugano's generation's best colleagues have already gone to the MLB, including Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Masahiro Tanaka, Kodai Senga, Kenta Maeda, Yusei Kikuchi and Shota Imanaga. At 6-foot-1 and weighing 220 pounds, Sugano stayed healthy this season and more than doubled his inning output after throwing 77⅔ last year.

The starting pitching market is going strong this winter, led by Corbin Burnes, reigning National League Cy Young winner Blake Snell, left-hander Max Fried and right-hander Jack Flaherty. If the Chiba Lotte Mariners decide to sign Roki Sasaki, the 22-year-old fireball-throwing right-hander, the sweepstakes for his services will potentially attract every team in the MLB, with restrictions on his bonus making him a bargain in the same way Ohtani was given free rein before his move.

Kikuchi was among the best pitchers in baseball in the second half, while Luis Severino, Nick Pivetta and Nathan Eovaldi will all have a healthy interest. Sean Manaea, Nick Martinez and Michael Wacha could opt out of their contracts, and Shane Bieber and Walker Buehler are attractive cushion contract options.