You’d be forgiven for asking, “Who?” when you heard the Toronto Blue Jays had signed pitcher Cody Ponce to a three-year, $30 million deal Dec. 2.
Ponce is a former Milwaukee Brewers second-round draft pick and top farmhand who briefly made the big leagues with Pittsburgh but found substantial success in Korea, where he was named KBO MVP last season. He struck out 252 batters in less than 190 innings and had a 17-1 record and 1.89 ERA in 29 starts.
With a fastball that’s up a couple ticks and the arrival of a split-finger pitch, Ponce is ready to return stateside after four years in Asia, and he was rewarded for it.
Taken out of Cal Poly in 2015, Ponce initially showed well in the Brewers’ minor-league system, with a 2.29 ERA in 2015 over two stops and a 3.14 ERA in 2017 in Class AA and Advanced Class A. He had a 4.36 ERA in 2018, his last full season in the Brewers system.
He rose as high as No. 8 (in 2016) on the MLB Pipeline list of top Brewers prospects.
Midway through 2019, Ponce was traded to Pittsburgh for pitcher Jordan Lyles, who had a surprisingly strong run for the Brewers (a 2.45 ERA in 11 starts) and played a big role in the team making the playoffs.
Ponce finally made his big-league debut in 2020 for the Pirates, appearing in five games. He appeared in another 15 in 2021 but they were dicey; he went 0-6 with a 7.04 ERA.
That prompted a jump to Japan, where he pitched in 2022, 2023 and 2024, with a 4.61 ERA the latter year. Now 31 (he’ll turn 32 in April), he’s coming off a breakthrough season with Hanwha of the KBO.
