Tomoyuki Sugano

The past few Japanese import pitchers may have failed to make much of a mark, but Sugano's 2.32 career NPB ERA looks a lot more like Masahiro Tanaka (2.30) or Kenta Maeda (2.39) than Shun Yamaguchi (3.35) or even Yusei Kikuchi (2.77). The 31-year-old has established himself as one of the top pitchers in his home country over the course of his eight-year career, riding excellent command (seen in his career 4.9 BB%) and a full repertoire to a pair of Eiji Sawamura Awards, Japan's Cy Young equivalent. While his age means he doesn't have too many peak seasons left, he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, posting a 1.97 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 24.6 K% in 2020. A repeat of his NPB numbers is too much to ask given the step up in competition, but he looks quite likely to be at minimum a mid-rotation option for a few years, with the potential for something more.