Longtime Japanese Ace Tomoyki Sugano will depart from Japan this offseason in search of an MLB contract during free agency.

After 12 seasons in the NPB, Sugan who will turn 35 within the next week, will finally get his shot at baseball’s highest level.

In 2020 Sugano was originally set to be posted by the NPB’s Yomiuri Giants but the two sides never reached an agreement before the posting deadline expired.

2024 saw Sugano go 15-3 with a 1.78 ERA in 24 strong starts with the Giants as the team took home the central division crown.

Sugano features a six-pitch mix with a four and two-seat fastball, slider, cutter, curveball, and splitter that so many modern Japanese pitchers throw.

According to DeltaGraphs Sugano had a positive run on all six of the pitches in his arsenal in 2024.

When free agency begins, Sugano will join a star-studded free-agent pitching class that includes Blake Snell, Max Fried, and Jack Flaherty.

Due to his age, the market for Sugano will be a lot different than it was for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and it will be for Roki Sasaki when he is posted.

Smaller market teams could be more inclined to pursue Sugano with his contract being not as demanding as the top of the pitching market.