"Wow." Look at Ponce! "I've become a completely different pitcher" 1IP 2K Perfect "Extreme Explosion" and even honest thoughts full of humanity...

*This content was translated by AI.

Cody Ponce (32, Toronto Blue Jays), who won the KBO League Most Valuable Player (MVP) last year, pitched perfectly in his first actual return to the U.S. stage.

Ponce started the Detroit Tigers and 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) exhibition game at Merchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida on the 26th (Korea time) and pitched two strikeouts and no runs during one inning (IP).

Ponce threw a total of 22 balls on the day. Of those, there are 16 strikes. The maximum speed of the fastball was 96.7 miles (155.6 kilometers) per hour.

Ponce threw a 92.2 mile (148.4km) cutter after a bloody battle to the 10th pitch against Austin Meadows, the first batter, and struck out swinging. Then, against Kevin McGonigl, who entered the next at-bat, he also struck out swinging once more, showing off his power.

The next batter was Germay Jones, who will compete with the national flag at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March. Ponce guided Jones to a groundout to third on the fifth pitch and deleted the first inning with a perfect score.

According to local media such as SportsNet, Ponce said, "It was really fun. To be honest, my legs were a little shaky. It's been a long time since I took the mound in a major league in such an environment. I also felt my heart beat faster and faster. However, I tried to pitch with the thought of enjoying it as much as possible," he said, expressing his honest feelings full of humanity.

Manager John Schneider also gave Ponce a thumbs up for his pitch. "Ponce is a completely different pitcher compared to his time playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the past," he said. "He has a really good understanding of where his pitches work effectively in the strike zone," he said. "Of course, we have to see that he is still in the process of adapting to the big leagues."

Meanwhile, Ponce began his professional career with a Milwaukee Brewers draft pick in the 2015 MLB Draft. Making his big league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020, he pitched in 20 games (five starts) and played 55 ⅓ innings in two seasons until the 2021 season, marking 1-7 with 48 strikeouts and ERA 5.86.

Ponce then left for Japan. For three seasons from the 2022 to 2024 season, I experienced Asian baseball through the Nippon Ham Fighters and Rakuten Golden Eagles. And ahead of the 2025 season, Ponce signed a relationship with Hanwha. He entered Daejeon with a total of $1 million, including a down payment of $200,000 and an annual salary of $800,000.

Ponce dominated the KBO League. He started 29 games in the 2025 season and marked 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA. While playing a total of 180 ⅔ innings, he achieved a detailed performance of 128 hits (10 home runs), 41 walks, 252 strikeouts, 41 runs (38 earned runs) per inning (WHIP) of 0.94 and a 0.199 hit rate. He pitched 20 times in quality start (less than three earned runs in six innings as a starter). He topped all four categories including multiple wins, ERA, strikeout and winning percentage (0.944). In the end, based on this strong performance, Ponce returned to the United States by signing a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on a three-year total of $30 million.

Toronto is familiar to Korean fans as Ryu Hyun-jin's former team. He showed good performance this season, advancing to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. However, he lost unfortunately after a bloody battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers until Game 7, and had to be satisfied with the runner-up. What will he show this season. What kind of performance will Ponce perform.

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*This content was translated by AI.