New Blue Jays' pitcher Cody Ponce introduced to the Toronto media
Photo credit: https://www.mlb.com/
New Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Cody Ponce just wants to win it all.
The six-foot-six 255-pound right-hander, who signed with the Blue Jays last week, is focused on his body, putting in three-to-four hours a day of recovery work, activation, alignment and training.
"I want to win baseball games," Ponce said. "I want to win a World Series. So anything that I can do to be the best help that I can to this team, that's what I'm going to do."
The native of Pomona, Calif., said he got a chance to watch some of the Blue Jays' playoff run last October.
"The competitive nature of the team, the atmosphere that you can see on the bench during games, everybody was very lighthearted, but everybody was still very dedicated to wanting to win a ball game each and every single night," he said.
On the mound, he credited former teammate, and former Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu with helping him expand his arsenal by not relying on one type of off-speed pitch.
"Two types of cutters, two types of curveballs, two types of change-ups," said Ponce, who also throws a splitter and has a mid-90s fastball. "Creating different pitches and just the pitch ability."
Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, who recently signed a seven-year, $200-million contract with the Blue Jays, will anchor a Toronto starting rotation that's one of the deepest in the game.
Ponce joins a starter mix that includes Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and Jose Berrios. Bowden Francis, Eric Lauer and others could also factor in.
Ponce made his big-league debut with Pittsburgh in 2020 and had a 1-7 record and 5.86 ERA over parts of two seasons with the Pirates.
Ponce split time in Japan between the Nippon Ham Fighters and Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2022-24. He had a 15-24 mark with a 4.54 ERA over three seasons.
Ponce also endured several months in Japan's minor leagues before his breakout campaign in South Korea.
"I just wanted to go out there and perform the best I could and try to (create) a possibility of coming back with at least one offer," he said. "And then this kind of all happened."
The Blue Jays will kick off their pre-season schedule on Feb. 21 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 16 | 84 ANSWERS New Blue Jays' pitcher Cody Ponce introduced to the Toronto media Do you think Cody Ponce will be as effective in MLB as he was in the KBO? | ||
| Yes | 49 | 58.3 % |
| No | 16 | 19 % |
| Too early to tell | 19 | 22.6 % |
| List of polls | ||