Is This The Year The Orioles Turn It Around? Veteran Free Agent Signing Bold Goal Sparks Hope and Optimism
The Baltimore Orioles look to have a lineup that can produce at the level of any in baseball. Where all of the attention will be in 2025 is on their pitching staff.
A huge loss occurred when Corbin Burnes left in free agency, agreeing to a six-year, $210 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Orioles didn’t bring in an ace to replace him, opting to instead add depth pieces to try and fill the void. One of the players who will be responsible for helping fill the void left by Burnes’s departure is Tomoyuki Sugano.
A bonafide star in his native Japan, the 35-year-old was dominant in the Nippon Baseball League while pitching for the Yomiuri Giants.
Across 12 seasons, he made 276 appearances, going 136-74. He pitched 1,857 innings with an impressive 2.43 ERA, striking out 1,585 batters.
At this stage of his career, the Orioles aren’t expecting him to single-handedly replace what Burnes brought to the mound. But if his performance in 2024 is an indication of anything, it is that he has plenty left in the tank to offer.
In 24 appearances last year, Sugano went 15-3 with a minuscule 1.67 ERA across 156.2 innings with 111 strikeouts and only 16 walks.
His pinpoint control more than makes up for his lack of pure stuff, as he isn’t going to be blowing away opponents as a flame thrower.
Baltimore will be relying on him to eat up innings at the middle and back end of the rotation, as it will take a total team effort to replace Burnes.
When a player that talented leaves a team, it is always going to be tough to overcome. But, expectations have not changed for the team and Sugano knows that.
Upon his arrival at spring training, he made it clear, through an interpreter, what his goal was for the 2025 campaign; win a championship.
He knows what it takes to win, as he helped lead the Giants to five Central League pennants. However, he was never able to get over the hump and with a championship, as Yomiuri’s last title was in 2012. He joined the franchise in 2013.
Helping the Orioles win a World Series would certainly help ease some of that pain from earlier in his career not being part of the last team standing in the Japan Series.
Sugano joined the franchise this offseason as a free agent addition along with MLB veteran Charlie Morton . They will fill the rotation out behind Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin , with Dean Kremer likely being the fifth option.
