Cody Ponce

Cody Joe Ponce

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 5", Weight 240 lb.
• School Cal Poly Pomona
• High School Damien High School
• Debut August 2, 2020

• Born April 25, 1994 in Pomona, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Pitcher Cody Ponce played for Team USA before making his major league debut in 2020. He won a Pitching Triple Crown and MVP Award in Korea.

Ponce had a 3.09 ERA as a high school senior. He was 5-2 with 6 saves and a 2.23 ERA as a freshman in college, tying the school record for saves; he did not allow a homer in 48 1/3 innings and walked only eight. He was second to A.J. Quintero for saves in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. He was 4-5 with a 3.36 ERA as a sophomore, now mostly used as a starter. In the Cape Cod League, he was 4-1 with a 2.82 ERA for the Brewster Whitecaps. He tied for 3rd in the loop in wins. Baseball America rated him as the league's #3 prospect, behind Walker Buehler and Kyle Cody. He

As a junior, he was 5-3 with a save and a 1.44 ERA, striking out 67 in 62 1/3 innings and not allowing a home run. Had he worked 2/3 more innings, he would have qualified for the CCAA ERA lead and his mark would have paced the circuit. The Milwaukee Brewers took him in the second round of the 2015 amateur draft. The scout was Josh Belovsky.

He split the summer between the Helena Brewers (2 R in 5 IP) and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (2-1, 3 Sv, 2.15). Baseball America rated him Milwaukee's #9 prospect entering 2016. He missed part of the summer with forearm inflammation and had a rough year at 2-8, 5.25 for the Brevard County Manatees.

In 2017, he was with the Biloxi Shuckers (2-1, 1.53 in 3 G) and Carolina Mudcats (8-8, 3.38), walking only 30 in 137 2/3 innings. He was second in the Carolina League in ERA (behind Brock Hartson). Among Milwaukee minor leaguers, he was 4th in ERA and tied Taylor Jungmann for 2nd in wins. He spent all of 2018 with Biloxi, going 7-6 with a 4.36 ERA.

Ponce began 2019 with Biloxi (1-3, Sv, 3.29, 44 K in 38 1/3 IP), moving back to relief. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jordan Lyles and pitched for the Altoona Curve (Sv, 4 R in 6 IP) and Indianapolis Indians (1-3, 5.30) in the Pirates system. They sent him to the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League and went 2-1 with a 2.35 ERA. He was then picked for the US squad for the 2019 Premier 12. Starting their opener, he shut down the Dutch national team on two hits (by Hendrik Clementina and Sharlon Schoop) in five shutout innings to beat Rob Cordemans, who was playing in the Olympics when Ponce was a year old. Noah Song relieved him.

He made it to the Pirates in 2020 thanks to expanded rosters during the COVID-19 pandemic. In his debut on August 2nd, he was the 9th pitcher used in a 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs. Relieving Sam Howard in the 11th, he retired Anthony Rizzo. Javier Báez then singled in David Bote, who had started the inning on second base as the additional runner under the new extra-inning rules. He was 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 5 games, posting a 144 ERA+. He slipped to 0-6, 7.04 in 2021, though, and wasn't that great with Indianapolis either (1-4, 4.71).

Moving overseas for 2022, he was 3-5 with a 3.35 ERA for the Nippon Ham Fighters (1-2, 3.86 in the minor league Eastern League as well). He did throw the first NPB no-hitter by a foreign hurler since Rick Guttormson in 2006. He had a 4-5, 3.66 record for the 2023 Fighters (1-3, 5.40 on the farm). Switching to the Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2024, he had a rough year at 3-6, 6.72. He was 3-3 with a 2.25 ERA in the minors.

Ponce then signed with the Hanwha Eagles in Korea and was absolutely dominant in 2025, winning a pitching Triple Crown by going 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 252 K in 180 2/3 IP. He shattered Ariel Miranda's league record of 225 K (set four years prior). He topped James Naile by .36 for the ERA title, tied Riley Thompson for the most wins and had 7 more K than runner-up Drew Anderson. He also broke Hyun-jin Ryu's record of 17 K in a 9-inning game when he whiffed 18 one day. He got 76% of the votes for the KBO MVP, topping slugger Lewin Díaz for the award. It kept up a trend of foreign hurlers winning the award in alternating years as Josh Lindblom had won in 2019, Miranda in 2021 and Erick Fedde in 2023.

Given his success in Korea, Ponce's plan was to return to Major League Baseball in 2026 as he was now expected to be offered a substantial deal. On December 2nd, it was announced that he had signed a three-year deal with the defending American League champions, the Toronto Blue Jays. The deal was worth $30 million and he was expected to join the team's starting rotation in 2026. His first game for his new team against the Colorado Rockies on March 30th did not go as he would have wished, however. After two scoreless innings, he first slipped while making a pitch, resulting in a balk, and then mis-stepped while trying to field a comebacker by Jake McCarthy, injuring a knee and allowing the baserunner to score. He had to be carted off the field, his start over in just 2 1/3 innings and was placed on the injured list after the game.

Further Reading

• David Adler: "Former MLB reliever drawing serious interest after dominating KBO", mlb.com, December 1, 2025. [1]
• Keegan Matheson: "Blue Jays stay busy, add KBO MVP Ponce on 3-year deal", mlb.com, December 2, 2025. [2]
• Keegan Matheson: "Ponce carted off field in first big league appearance since 2021: Right-hander undergoing MRI on right knee after sustaining injury fielding a grounder in opener vs. Rockies", mlb.com, March 31, 2026. [3]

Related Sites

• Cody Ponce on mlb.com
• BR Register page