The Toronto Blue Jays’ organization has made a statement so far this offseason and that is they are improving their pitching staff.
It started with Shane Bieber triggering his option when the offseason started, followed by a seven-year, $210 million contract with San Diego Padres starter Dylan Cease. If the rotation couldn’t get any better, management just locked one down, Cody Ponce.
Ponce just signed a 3-year $30M deal, per Jeff Passan of ESPN, with the Blue Jays. For those that saw him pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates, it might seem like a reach. But he has been playing overseas, most recently with the Korean Baseball Organization, where the story is completely different.
Who is Cody Ponce? 
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Ponce was drafted back in 2015 at just 19 years old and made his debut in the Majors in 2020, which wasn’t necessarily a dream start to his career as went 1-7 in his two seasons with a 5.86 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. But it is what he has done since that helped him earned that new contract with the 2025 American League pennant winners.
He’s been in Asia since 2022, and in his last season in the KBO with the Hanwha Eagles he was not only named the MVP, but set a record for most strikeouts in a game, 18, and eventually finished the year with 252 in less than 181 innings.
His stat-line for 2025 included:
17-1 Record1.89 ERA252 Strikeouts0.93 WHIP
He led the league in wins, won the pitching triple crown and claimed the Choi Dong-won Award, the KBO’s equivalent of the Cy Young for starting pitchers. This is his second consecutive season with an ERA under 2.25 as he appears to just be getting better and better.
Before the KBO, he spent three seasons in the NPB and went 10-16 with a 4.54 ERA. In 55.1 MLB innings he went 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA. Ponce’s 2025 is an outlier to his professional career. But if it translates to the Blue Jays, he’s a steal.
It feels as if the Blue Jays now have solidified what could be one of the best pitching staffs in baseball next season. They now have a solid starting rotation with Bieber, Cease, Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, a healthy Jose Berrios, and now Ponce.
It seems that their next move will be securing Bo BIchette. If the team is able to do that, it won’t be who will stop them in 2026, but who can?
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