The Toronto Blue Jays have made multiple moves this offseason, particularly on the pitching side of things.

The Blue Jays shored up their starting rotation by signing right-handed starting pitcher Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract Dec. 2.

Toronto helped add impressive depth to its bullpen, as well, and signed right-handed reliever Tyler Rogers to a three-year, $37 million deal Dec. 15.

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In between the two moves, the Blue Jays added another starting pitcher to their rotation by bringing in Cody Ponce on a three-year, $30 million contract Dec. 10.

Ponce appeared on the Foul Territory podcast Dec. 19. While on the show, he revealed that he could be taking the mound in the 2026 World Baseball Classic before ever throwing a pitch for the Toronto organization.

"I got asked by Team Mexico (to play in the World Baseball Classic)," Ponce said on the podcast. "So it's Feliz Navidad. As of right now, I'm not 100% sure. I said that I do want to play. But as I am now a Toronto Blue Jay, I have to talk to my team and see what they want to do and the best wishes for me, from them. To have a USA jersey, half-folded, and have a Mexican jersey, half-folded, put them together to represent both sides of my family, is one of the honors that I've always wanted to be able to do...

Ponce has Mexican heritage in his family, making him a candidate to compete on Team Mexico.

Ponce is the most intriguing of the Blue Jays' recent signings, mostly because it's been over four years since he has pitched in Major League Baseball.

The 31-year-old righty was originally selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 2015 MLB Draft out of Cal Poly Pomona.

Before he made his major league debut, Ponce was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a one-for-one deal in return for right-handed pitcher Jordan Lyles on July 29, 2019. 

Ponce made his major league debut in 2020. He made five appearances (three starts). In 2021, Ponce appeared in 15 games (starting two) for Pittsburgh. He was released on Nov. 29, 2021.

In the majors, Ponce posted a 5.86 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 38.1 innings pitched across 20 outings (five starts).

Since then, Ponce has competed in both Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Korea's Korean Baseball Organization (KBO).

Ponce spent two seasons with NPB's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters from 2022-23 and stayed in the NPB in '24 with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. He pitched for the KBO's Hanwha Eagles in 2025.

Ponce pitched a no-hitter in his first year in Japan on Aug. 27, 2022. In '25, Ponce was named a KBO All-Star and won the KBO MVP and Choi Dong-won Award. The Choi Dong-won honor is the KBO's version of the Cy Young award.

In his MVP season in '25, Ponce posted a 17-1 record and a 1.89 ERA. He fanned 252 batters in 180.2 innings pitched across 29 starts. Ponce's 252 strikeouts set a single-season KBO record.

Due to the question mark surrounding how Ponce will look while back in the majors, Toronto could opt to hold him out of the World Baseball Classic to get a full spring to work with him.

On the flip side, Ponce will have an opportunity to compete against major league hitters in the WBC, including stacked rosters like Team USA, Japan and the Dominican Republic. And the Blue Jays could be inclined to see how Ponce does in a different setting against those teams before slotting him into the starting rotation.

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