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Right-hander Cody Ponce and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a three-year, $30 million contract, sources told ESPN, doubling the largest contract ever for a domestic player returning from the Korea Baseball Organization.
Ponce, 31, won KBO Most Valuable Player this year, going 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts against 41 walks in 180⅔ innings for the Hanwha Eagles. A former second-round pick who threw 55⅓ innings with Pittsburgh in 2020-21, Ponce remade his arsenal and joins a deep Blue Jays rotation that last week added right-hander Dylan Cease for $210 million over seven years.
The highest previous contract for a player coming back from the KBO was a two-year, $15 million deal the Chicago White Sox gave right-hander Erick Fedde before the 2024 season.
Ponce comes with higher expectations -- and superior stuff. Ponce added strength and turned his 6-foot-6, 250-pound frame into a strike-throwing machine, sitting 95 mph with his fastball, topping out at 98 and using a low-spin kick changeup to put away hitters.
Toronto, which has been among the most aggressive teams scouting Asia in recent years, expressed interest in Ponce early in free agency and did not relent as the price of the contract grew. Despite a rotation that already includes Cease and right-handers Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios, Toronto pushed its projected luxury tax payroll to more than $270 million, exceeding the first threshold of the competitive-balance tax.
Whether the Blue Jays will consider a six-man rotation or simply want the comfort of more starting pitching, their pursuit of Ponce bolsters the pitching staff of the American League pennant winners. The deal, which is pending a physical, is the latest in a series of moves by AL East teams this winter, with Cease's signing, Boston's trade for right-hander Sonny Gray and Baltimore signing closer Ryan Helsley and trading for left fielder Taylor Ward.
Toronto pushed the Los Angeles Dodgers to the precipice in the World Series on the strength of pitches similar to Ponce's changeup, which has a movement profile similar to the split-fingered fastballs of Gausman and Yesavage. Ponce picked up the pitch over the winter when working out with Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet and New York Mets right-hander Clay Holmes -- with whom he played in Pittsburgh -- and tinkered with a proper grip that best fit his unusually large hands.
Ponce had spent the previous three seasons in Japan, posting a 4.54 ERA for Nippon Ham and Rakuten over 202 innings. He found his greatest success in Korea, which has been the springboard for Fedde and Merrill Kelly to return to MLB.
