Tomoyuki Sugano’s smile was barely a hint, but it was there.
Sitting in the dugout at Coors Field, the 35-year-old pitcher asked why, after all of his fame and success in his native Japan, he was pitching in the majors, 5,800 miles from home.
“I was in the latter part of my career in Japan, and I just didn’t want to have any regrets, looking back at my career,” he said, using Yuto Sakurai as his interpreter. “It was one of the things I wanted to accomplish.”
American baseball fans might know the basics about the man dubbed “Tommy Sugar.” For instance, he won two back-to-back Sawamura Awards in 2017-18, equivalent of the Cy Young Award.
In the World Baseball Classic in 2017, he was Japan’s ace. In the Sugano dominated Team USA, pitching six innings and allowing just one unearned run on three hits. Although Japan lost, 2-1, he struck out six — fanning Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado three times and Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Adam Jones once each.
Rockies fans have seen Sugano, who signed a one-year, $5.1 million contract, become the club’s most consistent starting pitcher. After tossing 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball in Colorado’s 3-2 win at Arizona on Friday night, he’s 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA over 10 starts.
In 2025, Sugano went 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 30 starts with Baltimore after signing a one-year, $13 million deal.
But his short stint in America doesn’t begin to paint a picture of how big a star the right-hander was for 12 seasons with the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants.
“He was the best pitcher in Japan for a decade,” said Ryan Spilborghs, currently a Rockies TV analyst, who played seven seasons with the Rockies and spent the 2013 season with the Saitama Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League.
“It’s the equivalent of someone like Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, or Justin Verlander going to Japan after their elite run in the majors,” Spilborghs added.
But Sugano wasn’t just an ace in baseball-crazy Japan; he was baseball royalty.
He was 5 years old when he sat among the sold-out crowd at the Tokyo Dome to watch his uncle, in October 1995. Hara, a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, was one of the elite power hitters of the 1980s. In his final game, Hara blasted his 382nd and final home run.
Hara played 15 seasons for Yomiuri from 1981-95, and won three Japan Series titles (1981, 1989, and 94).
Following his playing career, Hara became the Yomiuri Giants’ manager and managed his nephew in two separate stints (2014-15 and 2019-23). And Sugano’s baseball bloodlines run ever deeper. His grandfather, Mitsugu Hara, was a standout high school and college coach, and Sugano’s father, Takashi Sugano, pitched in college.
“Tatsunori, Tomoyuki’s uncle, was like the crown prince of baseball in Japan,” said Margaret Narumi, a television producer who worked out of Los Angeles-based NHK Cosmomedia America for 29 years, bringing Major League Baseball games to Japan.
“Not only was Tatsunori a super, superstar in Japan, but he was really good looking,” Narumi added. “So all of the girls were following him like crazy.”
When Sugano was 19, there were sky-high projections for him to become a great player. In 2009, when Tatsunori was managing Japan in the World Baseball Classic, he told Narumi, “My (nephew) is being groomed to play baseball. He is going to be really great.”
Along with expectations came scrutiny.
“Of course, Sugano, being the nephew, got a lot of pressure,” Narumi said. “The expectations were much, much higher than for any regular player. But he surpassed all of those expectations.”
After some initial media frenzy during spring training with the Orioles last year, the scrutiny died down. Media attention is even less with the Rockies, although there are usually a handful of reporters from opposing teams surrounding Sugano’s locker after he pitches.
“It’s a different type of pressure than I felt back in Japan vs. here,” Sugano said. “I was expected to win and pitch very well, every game. But over here, I’m feeling more like a rookie. I was a rookie last year, so there’s not as much pressure.”
Sugano comes across a pleasant, quiet man. That was his reputation in Japan, too.
Nobi Kuga, who used to work for the Yomiuri Giants as their North American liaison and coordinator, is a close friend of Sugano’s uncle and Sugano’s parents. Kuga also helps arrange Sugano’s accommodations in Honolulu, where Sugano trains during the offseason.
“He’s a very down-to-earth guy,” Kuga said. “He’s very quiet, but he’ll open up to his close friends. In Baltimore, he was very quiet, but he’s happy to be in the majors. In Baltimore, I’m told that all of his teammates liked him.”
When Sugano pitched through illness to notch his 150th win on May 16, the Rockies held an impromptu postgame celebration in the clubhouse at Coors Field.
Sugano said he was “thrilled” that his new teammates recognized his milestone, but he was also characteristically modest about it.
“I’m obviously happy about it, but itap just another win, so I want to look forward to the 151st win,” he said.
Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer praised Sugano for his businesslike approach to the game.
“He’s just the ultimate professional — on a daily basis,” Schaeffer said. “You can just tell he’s been doing it at a high level for a long time. We celebrated the 150th in there today, and I’m very, very happy for him. Itap a great milestone, well deserved.”
Rockies veteran right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who notched the save to secure Sugano’s win, was awed by No. 150.
“That’s really big,” Senzatela said. “He’s one of the best pitchers over there in Japan, and he’s performing really well here in Coors. He’s a nice human being, a nice person. I love him, and I’m so happy for him.”
Sugano’s one big regret is that he never led the Giants to a Japan Series title, not even in 2020 when he posted a minuscule 1.97 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. But he’s proud of the legacy he left behind in Japan.
“The No. 1 honorable thing I could say about (my career highlights) is playing for the Yomiuri Giants,” Sugano said. “I have a lot of history there, for 12 years, and the teammates and the coaching staff that I met throughout the process is probably my No. 1 thing I’m most proud of.”
Sugano’s Star Power
During his 12 seasons with the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, Tomoyuki Sugano was one of the best starting pitchers in Japan. A closer look:
• Two Sawamura Awards, NPB’s equivalent of the Cy Young (Sugano won back-to-back in 2017 and ’18)
• Two league MVP awards in NPB’s Central League (2014 and 2020)
• Eight All-Star seasons
• A pitching Triple Crown (2018)
• Four league ERA titles
• Two league strikeout titles (including a career-high 200 K’s in 2018)
Source: MLB.com
