Blue Jays Sign Pitcher Who Tore Up South Korean League in MVP Season

Cody Ponce reinvented himself in four years away from Major League Baseball.

Cody Ponce pitched two years with the Pirates before finding success in the KBO League. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Blue Jays’ deep pitching staff looks to have grown even deeper.

Toronto is signing pitcher Cody Ponce away from the KBO League's Hanwha Eagles for $30 million over three years, according to a Tuesday afternoon report from Jeff Passan of ESPN. Ponce, 31, has not pitched in Major League Baseball since 2021 but is coming off a dominant season in South Korea.

For the Eagles, Ponce won 17 of 18 decisions with a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 180 2/3 innings. He was named the KBO League's MVP and won the Choi Dong-won Award, the South Korean equivalent of the Cy Young.

The Brewers originally drafted Ponce in the second round out of Cal Poly Pomona in 2015, and traded him to the Pirates for pitcher Jordan Lyles in 2019. Ponce pitched parts of two seasons for Pittsburgh before moving overseas, spending three years in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He joined Hanwha in advance of the 2025 season.

The Blue Jays formally signed pitcher Dylan Cease to a seven-year contract Tuesday as they seek to follow their pennant with a World Series title.

---