In the World Baseball Classic in 2017, he was Japan\u2019s ace. In the WBC semifinals at Dodger Stadium, <\/a>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 \u2014 fanning Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado three times and Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Adam Jones once each.\n<\/p>\n Rockies fans have seen Sugano, who signed a one-year, $5.1 million contract, become the club\u2019s most consistent starting pitcher. After tossing 6 2\/3 innings of two-run ball in Colorado\u2019s 3-2 win at Arizona on Friday night, he\u2019s 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.\n<\/p>\n But his short stint in America doesn\u2019t begin to paint a picture of how big a star the right-hander was for 12 seasons with the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cHe was the best pitcher in Japan for a decade,\u201d 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.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the equivalent of someone like Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, or Justin Verlander going to Japan after their elite run in the majors,\u201d Spilborghs added.\n<\/p>\n But Sugano wasn\u2019t just an ace in baseball-crazy Japan; he was baseball royalty.<\/p>\n He was 5 years old when he sat among the sold-out crowd at the Tokyo Dome to watch his uncle, Tatsunori Hara, play the final game of his 15-year career <\/a>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.<\/p>\n Hara played 15 seasons for Yomiuri from 1981-95, and won three Japan Series titles (1981, 1989, and 94).\n<\/p>\n Following his playing career, Hara became the Yomiuri Giants\u2019 manager and managed his nephew in two separate stints (2014-15 and 2019-23). And Sugano\u2019s baseball bloodlines run ever deeper. His grandfather, Mitsugu Hara, was a standout high school and college coach, and Sugano\u2019s father, Takashi Sugano, pitched in college.\n<\/p>\n \u201cTatsunori, Tomoyuki\u2019s uncle, was like the crown prince of baseball in Japan,\u201d 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.\n<\/p>\n \u201cNot only was Tatsunori a super, superstar in Japan, but he was really good looking,\u201d Narumi added. \u201cSo all of the girls were following him like crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n 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, \u201cMy (nephew) is being groomed to play baseball. He is going to be really great.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with expectations came scrutiny.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, Sugano, being the nephew, got a lot of pressure,\u201d Narumi said. \u201cThe expectations were much, much higher than for any regular player. But he surpassed all of those expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019s locker after he pitches.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a different type of pressure than I felt back in Japan vs. here,\u201d Sugano said. \u201cI was expected to win and pitch very well, every game. But over here, I\u2019m feeling more like a rookie. I was a rookie last year, so there\u2019s not as much pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n Sugano comes across a pleasant, quiet man. That was his reputation in Japan, too.<\/p>\n Nobi Kuga, who used to work for the Yomiuri Giants as their North American liaison and coordinator, is a close friend of Sugano\u2019s uncle and Sugano\u2019s parents. Kuga also helps arrange Sugano\u2019s accommodations in Honolulu, where Sugano trains during the offseason.\n<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a very down-to-earth guy,\u201d Kuga said. \u201cHe\u2019s very quiet, but he\u2019ll open up to his close friends. In Baltimore, he was very quiet, but he\u2019s happy to be in the majors. In Baltimore, I\u2019m told that all of his teammates liked him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n![\"Baltimore](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TDP-Z-SUGANO-Orioles-Royals-Baseball_225395672.jpg\")
Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)\n<\/p>\n