SARASOTA, Fla. — There were no batters in the box, and it’s mid-February, so the performance of any bullpen session should be treated with the proper temper. But as the eyes — and cameras — at Orioles spring training Tuesday focused on Tomoyuki Sugano, it was hard not to see the display as anything but impressive.

Sugano, the 35-year-old right-hander making a jump to Major League Baseball as one of Japan’s most accomplished pitchers, showed off his elite command during his 35-pitch bullpen session. It was his first time throwing off the mound since arriving in Sarasota, and Sugano looked every bit as advertised.

“Perfecto,” said catcher Gary Sánchez after the session. He added, through team interpreter Brandon Quinones: “Everything was easy. He threw a lot of strikes, which is typical for Japanese pitchers, and he looked great.”

Sugano arrives on a one-year deal and figures to stake his claim as a member of the starting rotation. Tuesday, then, was a good first step.

Throughout Sugano’s session, Sánchez nodded his approval. He even exclaimed a few times, particularly for Sugano’s cutter, as it painted the corners of the strike zone. He threw ample curveballs and splitters, but it was the low four-seam fastball placement that impressed Sánchez most.

“Specifically with the fastball down in the zone, it felt like I could close my eyes and the ball would land in my mitt,” Sánchez said. “Honestly, the command and the way he can control his pitches is really impressive.”

That is what has made Sugano so accomplished in Japan. He’s coming off a season in which he posted a 1.67 ERA in 156 2/3 innings, and he only walked 16 batters the entire campaign. He averaged fewer than one walk per start. And according to NPB Pitch Profiler, Sugano’s Location+ statistics — a measure that uses 100 to signify average — emphasize his top-tier command. His splitter (125), cutter (122) and slider (118) all graded above average.

His splitter’s whiff rate in Japan in 2024 was 37.9%, and he forced ground balls on 67.6% of the swings against that offering.

The strike zone in Japan is slightly different, with a wider zone but narrower top and bottom. Pitching coach Drew French said he doesn’t anticipate the difference to cause Sugano any issues because of his propensity to command his offerings.

“I think he has six pitches he can throw in any quadrant, so I think everything in due time will be an adjustment for him, but ultimately, he’s been super receptive to the information that we’ve given him, and the conversations that we’ve had,” French said. “He knows he’s walking into a different baseball league, and he knows there’re adjustments that need to be made, and he was executing those things today.”

Manager Brandon Hyde said he’s not going to “rush to judgement early” on Sugano’s spring training, considering the adjustment period to a new country and new league Sugano will go through.

But Sugano’s resume warrants attention. And if anything came from the bullpen session, which Hyde and French watched closely, it’s a confidence in Sugano’s ability.

“He’s a guy that’s accomplished great things in Japan, with an unbelievable track record, but this is his first time being over here,” Hyde said. “I know he’s really excited to get going. But we’re going to treat him as a guy who’s pitched a lot of innings in high-level baseball for a long time and been really, really good at it. We’re treating him like a veteran.”

Hyde said Sánchez and Adley Rutschman, as well as members of the coaching staff, met Sugano earlier this winter on a Zoom call. Now that they’re together in person, Hyde expects the relationship to continue growing, even with much of the verbal communication going through interpreter Yuto Sakurai.

Sánchez and Sugano felt they had a strong rapport already based on Sánchez’s experience catching other Japanese pitchers, such as Masahiro Tanaka in New York and Yu Darvish in San Diego.

“I think he understands how to catch Japanese pitches,” said Sugano through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “It was very easy to pitch to him.”

At the end of Sugano’s bullpen session, he met with Sánchez and French for a few minutes to discuss the work. Sánchez patted Sugano on the back — a universal sign of acceptance and approval. Those first 35 pitches Sugano threw in an Orioles uniform impressed, even if there were no batters to face them.

“It’s everything that was advertised when we started vetting him in free agency,” French said. “That’s what our scouts said, and our org loves — we think at times it’s going to be 80 [grade] command. It’s really, really good. Definitely sides of the plate. He understands the horizontal game. How he mixed his pitches, it was just nice to finally be in person and see him do his work.”