WBSC Premier12 star Cody Ponce keeps dominating KBO hitters

WBSC Premier12 star Cody Ponce is on pace for a record season with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organisation (KBO) league.

The 31-year-old right-hander, who the WBSC had previously reported on after his impressive first two months of the season, has started 23 games and posted an outstanding 15-0 record, setting a record for consecutive wins. He allowed only 94 hits, as few as seven home runs, and 31 walks in 145.2 innings, while striking out 202.

He became the fastest pitcher in KBO history to reach 200 strikeouts in a season and is on pace to break the single-season record of 224, set by Cuban left-hander Ariel Miranda of the Doosan Bears in 2021. He had an 18-strikeout outing, breaking the previous record of 17 for a nine-inning game (set by his teammate and Beijing 2008 Olympics gold medallist Hyun-jin Ryu in 2010) and tying the overall record set by legendary right-hander Dong-yol Sun, who is regarded as the greatest Korean pitcher of all time, over 13 innings for the Haitai Tigers (nowadays the Kia Tigers) in 1991.

Ponce started three times for USA at the WBSC Premier12 2019, including the bronze-medal game against Mexico. He left after five innings with USA leading 1-0. He allowed only three earned runs over 13.1 innings with a 2.03 earned run average (ERA).

After the Premier12, the Pirates added Ponce to their 40-man roster. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on August 2, 2020, against the Chicago Cubs. After playing a disappointing 2021 season, Ponce signed with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). On August 27, 2022, he pitched a no-hitter against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, only the seventh for an import pitcher.

An injury plagued his 2023 season, and the Ham Fighters let him go. Ponce played for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2024 but struggled through the season. Then came 2025 and his KBO experience.

The Hanwha Eagles have a 63-42 record with three draws and sit comfortably in second place, 1.5 games behind the KBO-leading LG Twins. They lead by 6.5 games over third-place Lotte Giants.