SARASOTA—Tomoyuki Sugano threw his first live batting practice for the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium on Friday. Sugano, who arrived from Japan last Saturday, has quickly acclimated to the United States, and threw a side session on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old right-hander faced rookie outfielders Dylan Beavers, Jud Fabian and Enrique Bradfield Jr. in two rounds of batting practice a day before the Orioles will open their Grapefruit League schedule against Pittsburgh in Sarasota.
“I had a good feel for it. I was able to pitch the way I thought I would be able to,” Sugano said through translator Yuto Sakurai.
After Sugano pitched, he was joined by his catcher Adley Rutschman, pitching coach Drew French, guest instructor Ben McDonald and Sakurai for a long review of his performance.
“I wanted to communicate with the catcher really well and I was able to do so with Adley,” Sugano said. “I had a special feeling because it was the first time. It felt like spring training was just starting.”
The young outfielders are unfamiliar to Sugano, who’s still learning his new team.
“I felt like they were pretty aggressive,” Sugano said. “More than anything, it was the communication with Adley and the pitch sequencing. My focus was more towards that.”
Gary Sánchez caught Sugano in his first bullpen session.
“Great experience so far,” Rutschman said Friday. “Fun to catch him.”
Rutschman said Sugano wanted to mix pitches.
“As we go along and face different teams, different batters, there’s going to be a lot more conversations to be had,” he said. “Obviously as we get to know each other better, it’s liable to change throughout the year.
“Today was more just about seeing as many pitches as we could even if it’s not like what we would throw to them in a game setting. We want to play around with some stuff, really get a feel for each other and what he’s able to do, and get different looks.”
Rutschman, Sánchez, manager Brandon Hyde and the pitching coaches spoke on Zoom to Sugano in the offseason.
“What we expected coming into spring training and obviously the best work you can do is when you have batters in there and getting real feedback,” Rutschman said. “Nice to put words into action and be able to go out there and see his stuff in person.
“Every pitcher is unique. For him, just his location. He’s got a six-pitch mix — splitter’s really good. I think he’s got the weapons to be able to attack guys in a lot of different ways … Trying to move the ball around and being able to attack guys in different ways is a huge part of pitching at this level, and he’s able to do that.”
Beavers, who has just six games in Triple-A, hadn’t faced a pitcher like Sugano.
“I thought it was an awesome experience,” Beavers said. “Glad I got to get in there and see that. He’s had a lot of success over there. It’s cool to be a part of that. He showed me a curveball, a fastball, a splitter. The splitter was a pretty good pitch.”
Beavers was the 33rd overall pick in 2022 by the Orioles. He’s worked his way through Single-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen, Double-A Bowie, and six games with the Tides, but Sugano was another level.
“I felt like, especially compared to Double-A, Triple-A, just better command,” Beavers said. “You could tell that’s what he was really focusing on, hitting spots. I was happy with how the at-bats went.”
Sugano said he hasn’t had a problem adjusting to the slightly larger major league ball nor the mound.
“I feel really comfortable on the mound. When I was with the [Yomiuri] Giants, the foreign players who played for the Giants, they were saying, ‘if you can pitch in Tokyo Dome, you won’t have a problem in the major leagues.’”
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