Cardinals seen as a match for KBO breakout star with concerning comparison

The St. Louis Cardinals kicked off their free agency with mostly roster-clearing moves and they enter the new league year with three spots open on their 40-man roster. While they are not expected to be major players on the market, they do have some spots that need to be filled by somebody. Recently, MLB Trade Rumors predicted where their top-50 free agents would land and the Cardinals were only a fit for one player.

Cody Ponce chosen by one writer to land with the St. Louis Cardinals

It took until the 39th-best free agent, but the Cardinals finally saw their name on an MLBTR list in a way other than listing their players that are trade candidates out of St. Louis. Checking in at number 39 is Cody Ponce, a former second-round draft pick who has pitched in the Brewers and Pirates organizations. Ponce made his MLB debut with Pittsburgh back in 2020, but has not seen major league time since the following season, when he appeared in 15 games.

After an 0-6 season where he put up a 7.04 ERA, Ponce took his talents overseas, spending two seasons with the Nippon Ham Fighters and another year with the Rakuten Golden Eagles before unlocking something in the KBO with the Hanwha Eagles. While in Japan, Ponce went 10-16 with a middling 4.54 ERA before heading to Korea in 2025. This past season, the now-31-year-old put up one of the best seasons in KBO history and looks primed to re-enter an MLB organization.

Ponce never threw more than 137.2 innings at any level of professional baseball, but turned in a career-high 180.2 frames this past season for the Eagles. Those innings were not just eaten, though, as Ponce went an incredible 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA while striking out a KBO-record 252 batters and walked just 41. Never a big strikeout guy, Ponce had a career 19.6% K-rate in the bigs and his best professional season saw him striking out 10 hitters per nine innings which he did in 63 innings in 2019. This year, though, the big righty set another KBO record by punching out 18 batters in one game and has reportedly gained a couple of miles per hour on his fastball, now sitting in the mid-90s with his heater.

Alarmingly, MLBTR compared Ponce's KBO resurgence to that of failed Cardinals reclamation project Erick Fedde, who spent a season in Korea after falling out of favor as a former top prospect who never put it all together. Fedde pitched for NC Dinos in 2023 and won most every pitching award after he went 20-6 with a 2.00 ERA in his lone season overseas. The Chicago White Sox brought him back stateside in 2024 and flipped him to St. Louis after Fedde went 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA in his return to the majors. After a disappointing half-season with the Cardinals, things went from bad to worse as he was graciously DFA'd after putting up a 5.22 ERA and a 3-10 record in 20 starts.

There is no true way to translate overseas statistics to MLB performance, but Ponce appears to have always had solid command of his pitches. If he has added a couple ticks to his fastball and can stay healthy after his massive jump in workload, it is possible that Ponce could be the next success story to return to the states after a brief international stay. All that remains is Ponce deciding where the next chapter of his story will take him.