"Right-hander left South Korea this past weekend to travel back to the United States, per a report from Bae Young-Uen of the Korea JoongAng Daily. Ponce and his wife welcomed a daughter in early November and had been planning to remain in South Korea through the end of the year as a result, but interest in the right-hander has picked up enough that he's traveling back to North America earlier than anticipated (presumably for some in-person meetings)."
"Ponce, however, was recently named the KBO MVP after a historically dominant season. Pitching to a 1.89 ERA in 180 2/3 innings with the Hanwha Eagles, Ponce set the single-season strikeout record (252) and the single-game strikeout record (18) in South Korea's top league. He fanned a comical 36.2% of his opponents with a mammoth 16.5% swinging-strike rate and just a 5.9% walk rate."
Right-hander left South Korea this past weekend to travel back to the United States. Ponce and his wife welcomed a daughter in early November and had planned to remain through year-end, but he is returning earlier due to growing MLB interest. Clubs expect Ponce to command a three-year contract and he could more than double Erick Fedde's $15MM guarantee. A $30MM+ deal would be sizable risk for a 31-year-old who has not pitched in the majors since 2021. Ponce was named KBO MVP after a 1.89 ERA in 180 2/3 innings, setting single-season and single-game strikeout records and posting a 36.2% strikeout rate.
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