Former MLB pitcher Cody Ponce is generating interest from MLB clubs after a dominant season in the KBO. Francys Romero reports that numerous teams have scouted the right-hander over the course of the 2025 season.
Ponce, 31, was Milwaukee’s second-round pick in 2015. Four years later, the Brewers flipped him to the Pirates ahead of the deadline in exchange for Jordan Lyles. After five seasons in the minors, Ponce made his MLB debut for Pittsburgh in 2020, and from 2020-21, he appeared in 20 games (five starts) at the big league level, pitching to a 5.86 ERA and a 4.38 SIERA in 55 1/3 innings. Following the 2021 season, the Pirates released him so he could sign with NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Over two seasons with the Fighters, Ponce was solid if unspectacular, making 24 starts with an ERA about 10% higher than league average. The highlight of his tenure with the club was the no-hitter he threw in 2022. Unfortunately, the righty struggled tremendously in 2024 after leaving the Fighters and signing with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Although he improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio, his groundball rate fell by about five percentage points, and he pitched to a 6.72 ERA in 15 games (12 starts). Some of that was surely the result of bad luck – his .382 BABIP was 20 points higher than that of any other NPB pitcher (min. 50 IP) in any of the previous five seasons – but nonetheless, he ended up spending almost as much of the season with the Golden Eagles’ farm team as he did with the NPB club.
In 2025, Ponce opted for a fresh start in South Korea, leaving the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to sign with the Hanwha Eagles. His move to the KBO turned out to be just what he needed. Over 29 starts and 180 2/3 innings, the 6-foot-6 right-hander pitched to a league-leading 1.89 ERA. Ponce set the KBO single-season record with 252 strikeouts and also set a new single-game record in the KBO by punching out 18 opponents. Ponce’s velocity has taken a notable step forward. After sitting 93.2 mph with his heater back in 2020-21, he now sits 94-98 mph and has added a kick changeup that wasn’t part of his repertoire during his MLB run.
Ponce also finished tied for the KBO lead in wins, securing the Triple Crown as he led the Eagles to an 83-57-4 record in the regular season – and an appearance in the Korean Series. His stellar performance earned him the Choi Dong-won Award, given annually to the best starting pitcher in the league.
The last two winners of the Choi Dong-won Award, Erick Fedde (2023) and Kyle Hart (2024), both signed guaranteed contracts to return to Major League Baseball after their award-winning seasons in the KBO, so it stands to reason that Ponce could pursue an MLB deal of his own if his goal is to end up closer to home. While he struggled during his brief stint with the Pirates, that was a 55-inning sample from five seasons back.
Ponce’s stuff has since ticked up, and his more recent accomplishments against NPB and KBO hitters could certainly convince a team to look past the reasons the Pirates released him all those years ago. Ponce throws harder and misses bats at a higher rate than either Fedde or Hart did during their time in South Korea. If Ponce indeed opts for a return to North American ball, a multi-year deal — perhaps even one topping Fedde’s $15MM with the White Sox — shouldn’t come as a major surprise.
17-1 with 252 strikeouts and 41 walks. Who wouldn’t want him?
Don’t forget: he also added an additional 23 strikeouts against just 6 walks in 17 IP (7 ER allowed) during Hanuwa’s postseason run to the Korean series.
Hmmm not sure which surname is worse, Ponce or Lovelady…
Probably Mariners.
No, you’re thinking of Ponce DeLeon. (A Mariner, but wrong century.)
For a pitcher, I’d rather not be Homer Bailey!
@ForLove – I’d rather not be Bob Walk or Boom-Boom Beck. Josh Outman works though.
I can’t excuse the enthusiasm for Ponce to pitch like that in the majors. KBO is AAAA ball for MLB. Ponce will never achieve those numbers in the majors. Skenes has yet done those numbers. Strasberg, Kershaw, Verlander, and other successful names, maybe have come close to those numbers once or twice in their entire career. Ponce pitched well in KBO for 2025 season, and did somewhat, like that in 1 year in NPB before tanking following year(s). Similar to his career in the United States before KBO and NPB, brief success and then face plants rather quickly. Consistency is something he always struggled with.
In my opinion, this writer is blowing smoke up everyone’s (you know what). Over hype a guy for a rebuilding team to attempt “lightening in the bottle” approach. Teams like Cardinals, White Sox, Mariners, Pirates, Marlins, Rays, and Tigers seem like the ones who will pay the league minimum in hopes to flip him in July. Which I don’t think he will be worth anything of value before or during July. Some club will bite though. Hopefully not my Pirates (again).
Blowing smoke up my tailpipe??
He’s not signing for minimum wage, PF1981. Just the optionality that he could be a mid-rotation starter is worth some dollars.
I don’t think anyone has ever claimed he would have those numbers in the MLB. Listing those KBO stats in the article and saying past pitchers with similar performance in the KBO have signed MLB contracts isn’t implying he’s going to be an ace. He’s probably views as a back end starter with some upside, similar to Erik Feddie or Merrill kelly when they came over.
Pounce on Ponce.
Give him a decent 1 yr with a signing bonus and a team option 2nd year as long as the medicals check out. Sure, he might end up being your long man in the pen but his ceiling seems like at the end of the rotation.
Fedde and Hart as comparisons does not inspire confidence, even if he throws harder and misses more bats. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, I just wouldn’t want my teams to be the one to take the gamble.
I suppose it’s a low-risk pickup with potential for at most a mid-rotation reward.
His average fastball velocity was almost that of Chris Sale, Yoshinobu Yamamoto this year during Ponce’s KBO season.
Fedde was almost a 6 win player the year after he came over. That season alone made the signing well worth it. If Ponce does half of that it will be a good signing for whoever signs him