"An excellent 5.5% walk rate is Sugano's biggest calling card, but his other metrics have been much shakier. Both Sugano's strikeout rate (15.6%) and barrel rate (11.4%) rank only in the seventh percentile of all pitchers, and only seven pitchers have surrendered more home runs than Sugano's 28 big flies. There's still time for Sugano to improve on these numbers, though keeping the ball in the park will be tricky since his last two starts are scheduled to come against the powerful Yankees."
"Sugano has a six-pitch arsenal, headlined by a splitter that he threw 23.5% of the time. Looking back on his first Major League campaign, Sugano told Kostka that he felt he didn't take full advantage of his pitch variety, as batters caught onto the righty's habits of tossing high fastballs and splitters lower in the zone. Sugano's traditional four-seamer didn't fool many hitters, as Statcast graded the 92.7mph pitch with a -4 Pitch Value."
Sugano will be a free agent this winter after his one-year, $13MM contract with the Orioles expires. He joined North America following a decorated 12-year run with the Yomiuri Giants and experienced expected transition bumps. Sugano owns a 4.39 ERA across 28 starts and 149 2/3 innings, providing durability for an injury-plagued Baltimore staff. His 5.5% walk rate is excellent, but a 15.6% strikeout rate, 11.4% barrel rate and 28 home runs allowed highlight key weaknesses. Sugano operates a six-pitch mix led by a splitter (23.5%) and identified concrete fixes and tipping adjustments to improve in 2026.
Read at MLB Trade Rumors
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