Ex-Team USA Star Was Washout, Now Back On MLB Radar In South Korea

Attention Major League Baseball teams in need of pitching, which means all 30 of you: How would you like to add a former Team USA right-hander currently sporting a 9-0 record and 2.20 earned run average in Korea Baseball?

That’s 31-year-old Cody Ponce’s record this year in 14 starts for the Hanwa Eagles. It is literally a far, far cry from his 1-7 mark and 5.86 ERA in 20 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020-21.

The difference is as vast as the straight-line distance of 6,882 miles between Pittsburgh and the Eagles’ home in Daejeon, South Korea.

The scouting report on the 6-foot-6, 255-pounder is basically the same as when he was the Milwaukee Brewers’ second-round draft pick in 2015. He still has an impressive pitch mix featuring a four-seam fastball that touches 96 mph. He utilizes a low 90s cutter the most and throws a slider, curveball and changeup.

That has enabled him to get 120 strikeouts in 90 innings, allowing only 57 hits and 20 walks in 14 starts this year.

Naysayers point out the numbers are against competition inferior to MLB quality. No doubt. His current teammate Hyun Jin Ryu, a 10-year MLB veteran, believes Ponce’s stuff can play at the highest level. He also doesn’t want him to leave. That’s why he told The Chosun Biz, “He is still a little lacking. He should stay with us longer. I hope he can stay for at least 7 years like me,” indicating it was a joking wish.

When Korean media asked Ponce about that statement, he joked back, “If I get more Ryu Hyun-jin jerseys and signatures, I will stay.

“Right now, I am focused only on one game, one game. I am not worried about what will happen next year. I am only focused on getting our team into the postseason.”

What About Ryu?

The 38-year-old lefty probably could help an MLB team, especially a contender. He was quite good with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays from 2013 through 2023 despite twice missing significant time with injuries. He had a 78-49 record and 3.27 ERA overall.

A year ago, however, he signed an eight-year, $14 million deal with Hanwa. He says he is quite content back home with club he started with at age 19 and compiled a 98-52 record. The Dodgers then paid the Eagles $25.7 million just to negotiate with him and signed Ryu for six-years and $36 million in December 2012.

These Three Came Back

MLB clubs are aware that occasionally a pitcher who struggled in America found success in Korea, then returned and made an impact in MLB. Three recent examples are Ben Lively, Erick Fedde and Merrill Kelly.

Lively had a combined 4-10 record and 4.80 ERA for the Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals in 26 games over 2017-19. He went to Korea for three seasons, then signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 2023 at age 31.

The right-hander went 4-7 in 19 games with the Reds and signed as a free agent with Cleveland. Though currently on the injured list, Lively has thrived in the rotation, compiling a 15-12 record and 3.68 ERA in 38 starts for the Guardians.

Fedde, a first-round pick by the Washington Nationals in 2014, had a 21-33 record and 5.41 ERA for them from 2017 until 2022. He became a one-year wonder in Korea, going 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA.

The Chicago White Sox came calling. Yes, the same 2024 team that compiled the worst record in MLB since 1899. Fedde was their most reliable pitcher with a 7-4 record and 3.11 ERA in 21 starts.

The Chisox figured they could get some young players that may eventually lead them out of the losing wilderness and so the 31-year-old Fedde went to the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-way trade that included the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Chicago got minor-league prospects. The Cardinals got Fedde, who has helped solidify their rotation with a 3.62 ERA in 32 starts since.

Merrill helped the Arizona Diamondbacks into the 2023 World Series. Before that, he pitched four years in the Tampa Bay Rays’ farm system and four more in South Korea.

Since joining the D-backs in 2019 at age 30, Merrill has a 59-46 record and 3.79 ERA in 153 starts. He’s 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA this year. In four starts in the 2023 post-season, he had a 2-1 record and 2.25 ERA. That included Arizona’s only win in the Series against the Texas Rangers. In Game 2, Merrill struck out nine without a walk and allowed three hits and one run over seven innings.

Cody Ponce’s Past And Future

Ponce is married to the sister of San Francisco 49ers football star George Kittles. She’s his biggest fan and has posted videos of them together.

His best results until this year came at age 21 in 2015. In his final year of college, he had a 1.44 ERA in 13 games including 12 starts. That helped him get a $1.108 million signing bonus from the Brewers as the No. 55 pick overall. He was quite good in his first 14 games as a pro later that year: 2-1, 2.29 ERA, 9 walks and 40 strikeouts in 51 innings.

He was traded to Pittsburgh midway through the 2019 season and reached Triple-A Indianapolis in the Pirates’ farm system later that summer. That fall, he was Team USA’s best pitcher with a 2.03 ERA in three starts in a tournament in Asia.

He missed significant time in his next two years with forearm strains as a member of the big-league team. After going 0-6 with a 7.04 ERA in 2021 for the Pirates, he was released and went to Japan.

He had one shining moment, pitching a no-hitter for the Nippon Ham Fighters on Aug. 27, 2022 – the first by an imported hurler in 16 years.

In three seasons, however, he had only a 10-16 record and 4.54 ERA and admitted this year he was miserable. The losing had really gotten him down.

Now, he says teammates and coaches have made him forget the past and focus on the future. He’s throwing the same, but with better results. He says that when things get tough, he has a better mindset to handle it.

“I don’t think I can express how much honor and gratitude I have towards everybody in this organization,” he told the Yonhap News Agency. “There’s so much love and support and charisma on this team that it makes it fun to play on.”

Korea Baseball The Answer?

It seemed so easy when Ponce fanned a KBO record 18 on May 17, allowing two hits and one walk in a shutout win. The previous nine-inning mark of 17 was set by Ryu back in 2010. It made both heroes in the country that has a a great passion for baseball both before and since winning an Olympic gold medal in 2008.

That got scouts’ attention. So did his start on June 7, his first bad one of the year. He gave up 2 homers and 5 runs over 5 innings to the first-place LG Twins.

Just when it looked as if he was invincible and his MLB-caliber stuff was looking like MLB consistency, Ponce turned in a clunker. How he responds in his next start could go a long way as to whether his long career road takes a turn back towards America or hits a stop sign in the Korea Baseball Organization.