The Hanwha Eagles' foreign pitcher Ponce achieved a 5-inning no-hitter, successfully completing the final rehearsal for the regular season.
Ponce took the mound as a starter in the exhibition game against the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park on the 16th, showcasing a perfect performance with 5 innings, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, and no runs. His maximum speed reached 155 km/h, and he mixed in curves, forkballs, sliders, and two-seam fastballs.
In the first inning, Ponce tied up Park Min-woo (catcher strike not out), Kim Joo-won, and Son Ah-seop (all ground balls to shortstop). In the second inning, he induced Davidson and Park Gun-woo to pop flies to center field and ground balls to shortstop, respectively, before overpowering Kwon Hee-dong, inducing a swinging strikeout.
The first crisis came in the third inning. After handling lead-off hitter Seo Ho-cheol with a line drive to shortstop, Ponce faced a hit by pitch against Park Se-hyuk and a walk to Kim Sung-wook, putting him in a one-out, first-and-second base situation. By inducing Park Min-woo to ground out to first base, he secured two outs with runners on second and third. Ponce finished the third inning by getting Kim Joo-won to pop out to shortstop.
In the fourth inning, Ponce tied up Son Ah-seop (swinging strikeout) and Davidson (pop fly to first base), but issued a walk to Park Gun-woo. However, he got Kwon Hee-dong out with a ground ball, continuing his scoreless streak. Ponce struck out all three batters in the fifth inning: Seo Ho-cheol, Kim Hyung-jun, and Kim Sung-wook. Ponce handed the mound over to Jo Dong-wook in the sixth inning, leading 5-0.
Meanwhile, Ponce is a powerful right-handed pitcher with a height of 198 cm and overwhelming velocity. His average fastball speed exceeds 150 km/h. Additionally, he is praised for his decent control with various pitches.
He played in Major League Baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020 and 2021, appearing in 20 games (5 starts), pitching 55⅓ innings, achieving 1 win, 7 losses, with 48 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 5.86.
Another advantage of Ponce is his experience in Asian baseball. He played in Nippon Ham Fighters from 2022 to 2023, wearing the Rakuten Golden Eagles uniform this year, performing in total 3 seasons in Japanese professional baseball. His combined stats over three seasons in Japan are 10 wins, 16 losses, and an earned run average of 4.54.
In Japanese professional baseball, he started in 36 of 39 games and showcased the stamina to pitch around 100 pitches per game. Last year, he accumulated a total of 127 innings between the first and second teams in Rakuten.
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