Baltimore Orioles Rookie Has Been Best Offseason Acquisition So Far

When looking back on the offseason that the Baltimore Orioles had, not many expected much from their acquisitions.

On paper, Charlie Morton looked to be the best addition, but the natural decline of age has hit him like a Mack truck, and it has not been pretty when he has set foot on the field.

Instead, the best acquisition so far has come in the form of another aging pitcher, but this one is a rookie.

35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano has been the best acquisition general manager Mike Elias made over the winter, and one of the only starting pitchers to have any success for the team this season.

Tomoyuki Sugano Has Been Best Offseason Acquisition

The Orioles signed Sugano to a one-year, $13 million deal out of NPB. The righty had a stellar career in the Japanese league, pitching to a 2.43 ERA across 1,857 innings in 276 games.

While many pitchers have trouble transitioning from NPB to MLB, either due to the increased workload or the differences in the baseball, that has not been the case for Sugano so far.

It is still a small sample size compared to his time in NPB, but across his first eight starts in MLB, the 35-year-old rookie has pitched to a 2.72 ERA in 46 1/3 innings with a 137 ERA+.

The biggest kicker?

He does not do it with overpowering stuff.

Sugano is not a strikeout pitcher, and was not in NPB, either. Across his 1,857 innings in that league, the righty only tallied 1,585 strikeouts. This year, he has only 26. His success comes from keeping the ball on the ground and limiting hard contact.

The righty has induced groundballs at a 46.3% clip this season, while the Major League average sits at 41.9%.

While his average exit velocity of 89.1 mph is higher than the league average of 88.8 mph, it is still a solid mark overall, as laid bare by his hard-hit rate of 38.1%.

It has been a fantastic start to a Major League career from Sugano.

While he may be the only good acquisition Elias made over the winter, his performances have helped boost Baltimore every fifth day and they would be far worse off without him.