BALTIMORE -- As the Orioles look to strengthen their pitching staff for the 2025 season, they went to the international market to add an intriguing arm to the mix.

Baltimore announced that it signed Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano to a one-year Major League deal on Monday night, with the contract worth $13 million, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. The 35-year-old has spent his entire 12-year professional career playing with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Central League in Japan.

Sugano was the longtime ace for Yomiuri (Japan’s most storied franchise), becoming one of the most decorated pitchers in NPB history. He is a two-time winner of the Sawamura Award -- Japan’s Cy Young -- a three-time Central League MVP and an eight-time All-Star.

In 2024, Sugano was named Central League MVP after recording a 1.67 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 156 2/3 innings over 24 starts. He owns a career 2.45 ERA in 281 games in Japan.

Although Sugano doesn’t throw especially hard -- his four-seam fastball sits around 92 mph -- he has a diverse arsenal of pitches. According to NPB data, Sugano threw a cutter (20% usage), slider (20%), splitter (17%), sinker (9%) and curveball (8%) in addition to his four-seamer (26%) this past season. He also has tremendous command of his offerings.

Sugano previously faced Major League hitters in 2017, when he pitched for Japan in the World Baseball Classic. He started against the United States in a semifinal matchup on March 21 of that year, allowing only one unearned run over six innings in Japan’s 2-1 loss.

During the 2020-21 offseason, Sugano was posted by Yomiuri via the NPB posting system. However, he did not finalize a deal with an MLB club prior to the deadline and returned to the Giants.

This time, Sugano was an international free agent who was not subject to the contract negotiation rules of the NPB posting system because he had more than nine years of professional baseball experience.

Sugano, a native of Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, is slated to become the third Japanese-born player to suit up for the Orioles. He was preceded by fellow right-handers Koji Uehara (2009-11) and Shintaro Fujinami (‘23).

It is not yet known where Baltimore will slot Sugano into its rotation or if it would consider using him out of the bullpen. But he should be a valuable addition to the staff in some way.

As things stand, the O’s rotation could potentially look like this in 2025:

1. RHP Zach Eflin
2. RHP Grayson Rodriguez
3. RHP Dean Kremer
4. RHP Tomoyuki Sugano
5. LHP Cade Povich

Other starting options include righties Albert Suárez, Chayce McDermott (Baltimore’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline) and Brandon Young, plus lefty Trevor Rogers. Right-handers Kyle Bradish (Tommy John surgery) and Tyler Wells (UCL reconstruction) will open the season on the injured list.

Corbin Burnes, who thrived as the Orioles’ ace in 2024, remains a free agent and is likely to land a contract worth more than $200 million over six or seven years this offseason. So if Baltimore wants to bring back the right-hander, it will be required to spend quite big.

In the Orioles’ first offseason under the David Rubenstein-led ownership group, they have spent a total of $71 million thus far on a trio of players -- outfielder Tyler O’Neill (three years, $49.5 million), catcher Gary Sánchez (one year, $8.5 million) and Sugano (one year, $13 million).

It is unlikely that Baltimore is done adding players, even though its 40-man roster is now full. The O's are aiming to capitalize on the prime years of their young position-player core after winning 192 games over the past two seasons and making it to the postseason each of those years.