Right-handed pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano will become an international free agent this offseason, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Friday morning.

Sugano has spent the last 12 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan. During that time, he was named an All-Star eight times, earned two Central League MVPs and won two Eiji Sawamura Awards – the NPB equivalent of a Cy Young.

The soon-to-be 35-year-old appears to be putting this storied chapter of his professional career behind him and wants to move to the MLB before the 2025 season. However, this is not the first time Sugano has shown interest in traveling to the US.

The Giants drafted Sugano in December 2020, but he did not reach an agreement with an MLB team before his draft window closed in January 2021. Although Sugano had enough experience to bypass the posting system the following winter, he chose to remain in Japan again.

Tatsunori Hara, Sugano's uncle, stepped down as manager of the Giants in 2023 after 17 years at the helm. Yomiuri replaced him with Shinnosuke Abe, who was Sugano's catcher between 2013 and 2019.

Sugano is now 136-75 with a 2.45 ERA, a 1.035 WHIP and 1,596 strikeouts in his career. So far this season, Sugano is 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA, 0.945 WHIP and 6.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

Sugano has a six-pitch arsenal – a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a slider, a cutter, a splitter and a curveball – and has a skill set that is sure to attract plenty of suitors in the big leagues .

The two biggest Japanese free agents of last offseason – Los Angeles Dodgers righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chicago Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga – both impressed as MLB rookies in 2024. Yamamoto went with a 3.00 ERA, 1.111 WHIP and 1.7 WAR to go 7-2, while Imanaga went 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.021 WHIP and 3.1 WAR.

Sugano may not have as long a career as Yamamoto and Imanaga given his age, but he could also make an immediate impact.

This winter's free agent class already includes a long list of notable starting players, including Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Charlie Morton, Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, Jack Flaherty, Shane Bieber, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, Yusei Kikuchi, Walker Buehler and John Medium, plus possible opt-outs for Blake Snell, Gerrit Cole, Michael Wacha, Sean Manaea and Clayton Kershaw. The Chiba Lotte Marines could also add 22-year-old right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki, further filling the market with talent.

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