“Lastly, I would like to thank all the Nippon Ham fans for their support. The cheering from the baseball stadium was amazing,” he added.
Ponce, who made his big league debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020, is a right-handed pitcher who stands 198 centimeters tall and weighs 116 kilograms and has a 1-7 record with a 5.86 ERA in 20 major league games.
Ponce, who joined Nippon-Ham last year, pitched in 14 games in his first year, leaving three wins, five losses and an earned run average of 3.35. In a game against the Softbank Hawks on Aug. 27, he pitched nine scoreless innings (six strikeouts with two outs) and achieved a no-hitter at the Nippon-Ham for the first time in 27 years.
Ponce, who recorded four wins, five losses and a 3.66 ERA in 10 games this season, was notified by Nippon Ham that he could not renew his contract.
Ponce is a familiar player to Korean fans as well. Having joined the U.S. national team at the 2019 Premier 12 in Tokyo, Japan, Ponce allowed a three-run homerun to Kim Jae-hwan in the bottom of the first inning as a starting pitcher against Korea. Ponce was scolded by Korean batters at the time by allowing five hits (one homer) and one walk and three runs in three ⅓ innings.
Samsung is in the midst of forming foreign players. Samsung is seeking to renew contract with David Buchanan, who has displayed outstanding performance as a top foreign starting pitcher by achieving double-digit wins for four consecutive years.
Looking for a new face instead of foreign pitcher Taylor Wiedner, the Samsung Lions admitted that he is one of the candidates for recruitment. This also means that there is a high possibility that he will wear the Samsung uniform.
In the case of foreign hitter Jose Pirella, the possibility of replacement is slightly higher than that of renewing the contract. 안전놀이터