Japanese ace Tomoyuki Sugano ready to make waves in MLB as an international free agent

Japanese ace Tomoyuki Sugano is going to take his talents to the MLB. The star pitcher has officially decided to post as an international free agent this winter, following in the footsteps of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga the year before.

Unlike those two aforementioned superstar pitchers, Sugano is not a young pitcher. Yamamoto posted at the age of 25. Imanaga was older, but he was still just 30. Sugano is 35.

He owned a 1.67 ERA in 24 starts for the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants. Sugano won the Sawamura Award, Japan's version of the Cy Young, twice. The ace has also won Central League MVP twice.

This is not the first time Sugano has tried to come over to the MLB. He posted in 2020 with the expectation that a team would sign him, but none did. After a few years, he reemerged as a top pitching prospect next winter.

Sugano has six pitches. He throws a four-seam and two-seam fastball along with a splitter, curveball, cutter and slider. Several players, including Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka, Kodai Senga, Kenta Maeda and Yusei Kikuchi, who pitched in Sugano's era, have already played in the MLB.

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Tomoyuki Sugano won't have to post like other Japanese stars

Tomoyuki Sugano will post for the MLB this offseason, but it won't be a posting like most others. In most cases, teams that sign the posted player have to pay a fee to the team they got them from.

Tomoyuki Sugano won't have a posting fee (Imagn)

For example, the Los Angeles Dodgers paid $50 million to the Orix Buffaloes to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto for $325 million. The Los Angeles Angels paid $20 million in 2018 to sign Shohei Ohtani.

NPB players earn unrestricted free agency after nine seasons, which means they don't have posting fees as younger players do. Sugano just pitched his 12th season, so he is immune to the standard process.

This effectively means he will be a normal free agent, and teams can start a bidding war for him without worrying about his former team.