Jones on Sugano: “I’m just excited to get him around"

Adam Jones used to flash his range in center field, running down fly balls in the gaps or back at the wall. His impactful reach touched the city and its communities with his charitable work. And now, the Orioles are counting on his influence in Japan.

Jones spent the last two years of his professional career with the Orix Buffalos of Nippon Professional Baseball before the Orioles hired him this week as special advisor to the general manager and community ambassador. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias stated yesterday in a video call with media that Jones is “going to be helpful” in the club’s plans to tap into the Japanese market.

The Orioles gave starter Tomoyuki Sugano a $13 million contract, making him just the third Japanese player to sign with the club directly from his home country. Jones didn’t develop a relationship with him over the years, but they faced each other in the NPB and the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Jones isn’t paid as a scout, but it can come with the job, and he “signed off” on Sugano, according to Elias.

"He's a fan of Sugano,” Elias said.

Sugano ventured into free agency a second time after failing in an earlier attempt to sign and staying in Japan.

“Well Sugano, obviously, is a hell of a competitor,” Jones said. “Obviously, he's a little older, and it's been some years since I faced him, but he's a competitor. He pitches with everything, and he was fortunate enough to be in that group that knew (Masahiro) Tanaka and grew up around Tanaka, so he has all the American-style pitches. He understands the American-style hitters.

“Over the last few years, I think the Japanese style of play has changed a little bit to where you see some of these guys, you hear about them, hitting 40, 50 home runs. There’s a guy (Munetaka) Murakami, who's the third baseman for the Yakult Swallows. So when I was over there, obviously not playing every day, I got a very good view of everybody and just watching the bodies of work.

“I got to see who wanted to be an American player and who wanted to be and who didn't, who wanted to stay in Japan. And watching Sugano, he wanted to be in America. I know that that deal did not work out for him, and you know how it works out back in Japan, probably got handsomely taken care of to return home. But I know that he has the right stuff to pitch. A matter of health, that's always the No. 1 thing, it's the most important thing in sports, as we all know, and keeping the ball down.

“I mean, it doesn't matter what it is, these American hitters are all trying to get you. And I told this to (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto over there. I said, ‘The difference of Japan and America is two to three guys per lineup are trying to take you deep in Japan. In America, all nine. It doesn't matter who you are, these leadoff hitters getting 25, 30 now. So keep the ball down, use your defense, and you'll have a successful season.’”

Jones and Sugano haven’t spoken. They shook hands and talked about each other to the Japanese press.

“He was saying he wanted to face me again, him and (Kodai) Senga, because we beat them in the semifinals,” Jones said. “I wanted to get both of them and I got knocks off both of them. They wouldn’t throw me heaters when it mattered, you know what I mean?

“I’m just excited to get him around. One thing I love about Japanese players is routine. One thing that a lot of players can learn is a routine, and a strict routine. The Japanese players don’t waver from their routine. I think his presence can be beneficial. And when it comes to English, I think he knows more than we think. He’s never going to do an interview in English. I understand that. But he’s had some Americans over the past few years, some friends of mine over there. They have definitely spoken with him and taught him some phrases.

“I’m excited to hear his English and I’m excited to work on my Japanese. I try to visit a Japanese restaurant as often as possible to work on my Japanese.”

Sugano will wade through the usual adjustment period in the U.S., whether in baseball or his everyday life. There are no concerns about it from either side.

“Well, the last part, I think he has a lot of people in the right space to tell him how to prepare for America,” Jones said. “Obviously, having Tanaka, who played so long in America, it's a five-day pitching rotation. It's not six days. Obviously, you see nowadays, teams can construct different rotations to accommodate certain pitchers, so anything is possible.

“Obviously, the American schedule is a little bit different. My biggest thing that I tried to tell some people also is you're gonna have to worry about the time. We flew from Osaka all the way to Hokkaido, and that's, what, two hours? You're gonna have to endure a six-hour flight to California, three-hour time change. Oh, you're pitching that night, too. Obviously, accommodations can get you out there day early and all that kind of stuff, but time change is something that the body is going to have to understand, also.

“That's one thing that when I was in Japan, I’m like, ‘Oh well, we left at 11 and it's 12:30 when we landed. It's like nothing changed with the time.’”

Jones could critique Sugano again after their teams met in the NPB. Jones struck out and singled, the second at-bat accompanied by a few more details in yesterday’s retelling. How he hit it really crisp.

“Obviously, he pitched very, very well against our really good lineup, and that was a hell of a game,” Jones said. “We won 2-1. Him pitching against that lineup, that was an All-Star lineup, and he navigated it well. And you see his numbers, they've been really, really good consistently, even in his older years in Japan, and I don't see that diminishing. Obviously, the States are different and mistakes do tend to fly out the ballpark. You just have to get the ball down and use your defense in America."

The evolution of a winning team has led Elias to broaden his plans for the organization. Jones is one of the examples.

“I think I like the timing of this,” Elias said. “So much of my time here has been transition. We had a huge rebuild. We went through an enormous ownership transition. We were dealing with two years of COVID factors in baseball. And now, we have this good team that’s been in the playoffs for the last couple years. We’ve got a core of player that we’re investing in, trying to build around.

“Adam’s been a part of something similar in Baltimore, the most recent group to do it, and we now have the ability and resources to grow and expand our operation and the whole organization. And so, this is a good time to me to invest in somebody like Adam and bring him into our baseball ops department and help us make good decisions and develop good players and be smart. So I think we’ve got a lot of good stuff going on right now, and involvement from successful baseball people who have been here before is huge.”

Cal Ripken Jr. beat Jones to the entrance as a minority owner in David Rubenstein’s group.  Other ex-Orioles are expected to follow behind Jones.

“There’s just a lot of good resources around here that we’re going to continue to tap into,” Elias said, “so Adam this season is going to be a part of things and I’m just really excited about that.”

* Jones credits former Oriole Mark McLemore for being a mentor, a role that he can envision for himself as he grows older.

“I was fortunate enough to have the same English teacher, 20 years apart,” Jones said. “We grew up in the same neighborhood, so our family knows each other. I got to meet him at a restaurant in New York City. I was there for the All-American Game in ‘03. I was a high school senior, just got drafted, and being 20 years apart, he told me literally everything that’s going to happen, how you’re going to be a rookie.

“You first go to the minors, then you’re a rookie, now you’ve got a girlfriend, and you’re married and now you have kids. How to navigate kids. And you see it now, a lot of these young baseball players are getting married. Young baseball players get married at 21, 22. … They get married young, then they have kids. A 23 year old is used to having great sleep. That REM, whatever that’s called. You don’t get that anymore. So how do you navigate that?

“Listen, I wasn’t that young, but I had kids and I knew how to navigate those things. I just want to be a resource. There are so many factors of major league life. The outside world thinks you just wake up, jump into a major league uniform and go perform. That’s not how it works. There’s a lot of different factors. There’s routines, there’s making sure your family is taken care of. One of the most stressful things on a players’ mind. The organization does a really good job of making sure that’s the least thing you have to worry about.”

* Former Orioles outfielder Austin Hays has reached agreement with the Reds on a one-year, $5 million contract.

The deal includes $1 million in incentives, per The Athletic.

Hays was ill with a kidney infection for much of the 2024 season, and the Phillies non-tendered him rather than pay a projected $6.4 million in arbitration. The Orioles traded him to Philadelphia on July 26 for Seranthony Domínguez and Cristian Pache.

* Gunnar Henderson joins the Pirates’ Paul Skenes and the Reds’ Elly De La Cruz on the cover of MLB The Show 25.

This is the first time in the game’s history that three athletes are featured.

MLB The Show 25 launches on March 18, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch.

* Ethan Holliday, younger brother of Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, reportedly signed an NIL deal with Adidas.

Holliday, a senior at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma, is projected to go first to the Nationals in the upcoming draft. Baseball America and Perfect Game rank him as the No. 1 prep prospect nationally.

Jackson and Ethan could join Peyton and Eli Manning as the only brothers chosen first overall in a major professional sports draft.