The busy Blue Jays continued revamping their pitching staff by coming to a three-year agreement with well-traveled right-hander Cody Ponce, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The deal is expected to be worth $30 million, per a source. The club has not confirmed the move, which comes on the heels of Toronto signing Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract.
After four seasons overseas, the 31-year-old Ponce (he’ll turn 32 in April) returns to the Majors looking like a different pitcher than he was during his first stint, in 2020-21. That transformation didn’t really take place until 2025, though.
Ponce pitched in Japan’s NPB, for the Nippon Ham Fighters and Rakuten Golden Eagles, from 2022-24. His results there didn’t stand out, but everything changed when Ponce moved over to Korea’s KBO in 2025. Pitching for the Hanwha Eagles, Ponce made 29 starts and went 17-1 while leading the KBO with a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 180 2/3 innings.
According to pitching analyst Lance Brozdowski, Ponce’s four-seamer averaged 95.5 mph in the KBO and reached into the upper 90s. He also threw a changeup (a “kick change” to be precise) that was a dominant pitch, getting Ponce a whiff on 46% of opponent swings, including 39% in the strike zone. Ponce also throws a cutter (which could also be termed a hard slider) and an occasional sinker.
That uptick in stuff should give Ponce a much better chance to get Major League hitters out than during his previous MLB stint, when his four-seamer averaged 93.2 mph and his changeup was a little-used fifth pitch in his repertoire. Without an effective changeup as a centerpiece, left-handed batters teed off on Ponce, slugging .703 with nine homers in 101 at-bats in the Majors.
Ponce has a power pitcher’s frame: 6-foot-6 and 255 pounds. The Pomona, Calif., native stayed home to pitch at Cal Poly Pomona, before the Brewers took him in the second round of the 2015 Draft. He made it to Double-A with Milwaukee before the club traded him to Pittsburgh in a 2019 Deadline deal for Jordan Lyles.
Ponce made his MLB debut early in the shortened 2020 season, and over the next two years, he appeared in 20 games for the Pirates, including five starts. He went 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA, serving up 13 homers in 55 1/3 innings. The Pirates released him after the 2021 season, when he made the move to Japan.
Now Ponce becomes the latest pitcher to attempt a successful return to MLB after taking advantage of an opportunity in the KBO. One recent example is Erick Fedde, who enjoyed a similarly lights-out season in Korea in 2023, then returned to sign with the White Sox. In 2024, Fedde posted a 3.30 ERA over 31 starts for Chicago and St. Louis, which acquired him in a Deadline deal. There’s also Merrill Kelly, who spent four seasons in the KBO and is now going into his eighth in MLB after returning to sign with the D-backs in December 2018.