Orioles' Tomoyuki Sugano: Latches on with Orioles

Sugano signed a one-year, $13 million contract with Baltimore on Monday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

Sugano is regarded as one of the top pitchers from the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League in Japan, coasting to a 1.67 ERA and 0.945 WHIP with a 111:16 K:BB across 156.2 innings a season ago and posting a career 2.45 ERA across 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants. The right-hander's fastball sits in the low-90s and his recent strikeout rates in NPB suggest Sugano will need to provide fantasy value via strong ratios rather than bulk strikeouts. He does have excellent command and he'll have a good defense behind him this year in Baltimore. Given the value of Sugano's contract, he's a strong candidate to open the year in the rotation.