Blue Jays' Cody Ponce Carted Off with Injury in First MLB Game Since 2021
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The Toronto Blue Jays made a lot of moves this offseason as they tried to address their biggest issue from 2025- their pitching staff. The additions are highlighted by strikeout machine Dylan Cease, and one of the best relievers in the game, Tyler Rogers.
However, that isn't all that the organization did, as they decided to gamble on starting pitcher Cody Ponce, who hadn't thrown a pitch in the majors since his demise with the Pittsburgh Pirates five years ago.
If someone wanted to bet on a comeback story it should have been Ponce. Unfortunately, his first start of the year, at Rogers Centre against the Colorado Rockies, ended in heartbreak. Everybody present held their breath as he went down while running to get a ground ball at first base, per MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.
Cody Ponce is down injured.
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) March 30, 2026
He pulled up running to field a ground ball at first. The trainer is out with him now. #BlueJays
The Blue Jays trainer rushed out to him, but Ponce was unable to leave the field on his own two feet, and was instead carted out of the stadium. This was shortly after he registered his first strikeout of the season. There was no immediate word on the type of injury or the extend.
Ponce has been battling to get back to a Major League mound for half a decade, and one can only hope for the best moving forward. But this is a huge blow to the already injury-plagued starting rotation.
Ponce's First Start Back
The first inning was absolutely perfect for Ponce. Three hitters. Three outs. One retired batter (2025 Silver Slugger Award winner Hunter Goodman). Eleven total pitches.
In the second, it was Colorado's TJ Rumfield who made contact against a pretty nasty 96MPH fastball, but it he wouldn't find home as another strikeout, and a fly out would end the inning.
A Tale of Injuries Amongst Starters
With Ponce going down, it seems that he is likely to be placed on the injured list in the near future. Shortly after the injury Sportnet's Hazel Mae said that Ponce left the game with right knee discomfort.
The Toronto Blue Jays entered Monday's game with a 3-0 record after sweeping the Athetics. Three starting pitchers are on the mend down in Florida — Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios and Shane Bieber. But none will be ready to help Toronto in what would have been Ponce's next turn in the rotation this weekend.
Toronto's front office took building starting pitching depth seriously this offseason. But, now they could easily be looking to trade for another pitcher, because the depth is thing and it is only the first week of the season.
Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.