![\"Tomoyuki](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Heavy-Thumbnail_20260125_205339_0000.png\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Baltimore Orioles<\/a> knew they were taking on some risk when they signed Tomoyuki Sugano<\/a> to a one-year deal last offseason. Now that the veteran right-hander is officially back on the open market\u2014and publicly committed to staying in Major League Baseball<\/a>\u2014the question isn\u2019t whether Sugano will pitch again in the majors. It\u2019s whether Baltimore still makes sense as his next stop.<\/p>\n According to a report out of Yahoo Japan<\/a>, Sugano is \u201cnot considering\u201d a return to Nippon Professional Baseball<\/a> and is waiting on offers after completing his first MLB season. While the report didn\u2019t name specific teams, the implication is clear: Sugano wants to prove that his MLB chapter isn\u2019t finished after one uneven year in Baltimore.<\/p>\n A Promising Start That Revealed the Limits<\/p>\n Baltimore saw the best version of Sugano early. Through his first dozen outings<\/a>, he posted a 3.04 ERA and looked like a stabilizing presence in a rotation that needed innings more than dominance. His trademark command showed up immediately. Even as hitters adjusted, he continued to limit walks at an elite level, finishing the season with a 5.3% walk rate that ranked among the best in baseball.<\/p>\n The problem was everything that followed.<\/p>\n Sugano\u2019s inability to miss bats at the MLB level caught up to him in a hurry. As reported by Charlie Wright of MLB Trade Rumors<\/a>, his 15.7% strikeout rate landed in the sixth percentile, and his swinging-strike rate ranked near the bottom among pitchers who cleared 150 innings. Too many balls were put in play, and too many of them were hit hard. He surrendered 33 home runs\u2014third-most in the league\u2014thanks to a dangerous mix of an elevated fly-ball rate and an 11.8% barrel rate.<\/p>\n According to Fangraphs<\/a>, the underlying metrics suggested the slide was coming. His xFIP and SIERA both hovered in the mid-4.00s even during his strong start, signaling that regression wasn\u2019t a fluke\u2014it was inevitable. For a pitcher who thrives on precision rather than power, the margin for error in MLB proved razor-thin.<\/p>\n Why the Orioles Still Make Sense<\/p>\n Context still matters. Sugano was making the transition at age 35, facing deeper lineups and smaller parks than he\u2019d ever dealt with in Japan. Just one year earlier, he had capped off a dominant NPB career<\/a> with a 15-3 record and a sparkling 1.67 ERA, walking just 2.6% of hitters. That pitcher didn\u2019t simply disappear overnight.<\/p>\n What Sugano brings remains unique. He works with a six-pitch arsenal built around a splitter and sweeper, supplemented by a sinker and cutter he throws with real confidence. His four-seam fastball<\/a> averaged just 92.7 mph last season, and his Stuff+<\/a> graded out at a modest 92, but his approach has never been about overpowering hitters. It\u2019s about sequencing, deception, and limiting self-inflicted damage.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where the Orioles have to decide whether a reunion makes sense. Baltimore doesn\u2019t need Sugano to be an ace. They need stability, depth, and innings\u2014especially as they continue to balance a competitive window with young arms still finding their footing.<\/p>\n If Sugano is willing to return on a shorter, incentive-heavy deal, the Orioles could view him as a known quantity rather than a gamble. They\u2019ve already seen both extremes of his MLB profile. They know the risks. They also know the floor.<\/p>\n Sugano staying in MLB feels inevitable. Whether that story continues in Baltimore now depends on how much faith the Orioles still have in a pitcher whose first season answered some questions\u2014and raised a few uncomfortable ones, too.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAlvin Garcia<\/a> Born in Puerto Rico, Alvin Garcia is a sports writer for Heavy.com who focuses on MLB. His work has appeared on FanSided, LWOS, NewsBreak, Athlon Sports, and Yardbarker, covering mostly baseball. More about Alvin Garcia<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Orioles\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Baltimore Orioles knew they were taking on some risk when they signed Tomoyuki Sugano to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-438147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}