Former Brewers second-round pick breaks contract record as Blue Jays stack rotation

Breaking records might just be a habit of former Milwaukee Brewers second-round pick Cody Ponce. The 31-year-old right-hander, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2019 Jordan Lyles deal, has been pitching overseas since 2022, but is coming off a dominating year in the Korean Baseball Organization where he set a single-season record for strikeouts (252 strikeouts over 180.2 innings pitched) and also won the Triple Crown with 17 wins and a 1.89 ERA.

Now, after reportedly agreeing to a three-year, $30 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, Ponce already has another record to his name before even stepping back onto a major league mound. The Brewers' 2013 second-round pick just earned the highest salary of any pitcher returning to MLB from Korea, breaking short-time Brewer Erick Fedde's record of $15 million in guaranteed money. Like Ponce, Fedde won the Triple Crown during his season in the KBO before returning to MLB, recording 20 wins, a 2.00 ERA, and 209 strikeouts over 180.1 innings.

Former Milwaukee Brewers second-round pick, Cody Ponce, signs with Toronto Blue Jays on highest salary of any pitcher returning to MLB from Korea

Some expected Ponce to rejoin the organization that drafted him this offseason. When the offseason first began, Darragh McDonald of MLB Trade Rumors predicted a reunion between Milwaukee and Ponce, with an estimated deal of two years, $22.0 million. This itself would have broken Fedde's mark of two years, $15.0 million, but this morning it was reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that Ponce might be looking at an even bigger contract.

Rosenthal wrote in his recent publication at The Athletic, "Turns out Ponce might not be quite the bargain teams anticipated. Industry sources briefed on his market expect he will command a three-year deal of at least $30 million, and possibly in excess of $40 million." Rosenthal was spot on with his estimation of $30 million, confirmed just hours after his article was published thanks to the deep pockets of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Part of what drove up Ponce’s price is the added velocity he showed in 2025, boosting his fastball by roughly two miles per hour to an average of 95 mph. Paired with his devastating split-finger changeup, the combination produced a strikeout rate higher than any pitcher who has made the jump from the KBO, further reinforcing his penchant for setting records.

What may get overlooked, however, is that Ponce didn’t enjoy this level of dominance from 2022–2024, when he pitched in Japan’s Pacific League and posted a 4.04 ERA over 202 innings. That stretch of more modest results, paired with his mediocre performance stateside before heading overseas, makes Ponce far from a sure thing.

Regardless, it's an impressive pick-up for the Blue Jays, who committed $210 million to another starting pitcher, Dylan Cease, less than a week ago. After just coming up short on a World Series championship in 2025, the Blue Jays are doing whatever it takes to take the final step this offseason.