Like Ponce, he has a 100% ERA of 1.53 brilliant pitching, and will he be the first foreign pitcher to win 10 games in 21 years

Jul 02, 2025

Like Ponce, he has a 100% ERA of 1.53 brilliant pitching, and will he be the first foreign pitcher to win 10 games in 21 years
Rakuten right-hander Howard pitched six scoreless innings against Chiba Lotte on the 1st. Since his debut, he has won four consecutive games without losing in six games. Photo capture = Rakuten Eagles SNS



Like Ponce, he has a 100% ERA of 1.53 brilliant pitching, and will he be the first foreign pitcher to win 10 games in 21 years
Rakuten right-hander Howard threw nine games in the majors last year. In December last year, he signed an annual salary of 150 million yen with Rakuten. Photo capture = Rakuten Eagles SNS
One foreign ace could completely change the team. Hanwha Eagles, which has been hovering at the bottom every year, look beyond fall baseball for the first time in seven years to win. At the center, foreign right-hander Cody Ponce (31) is leading the emergency. Ponce started 17 games, posted an earned run average of '11 wins' without losing. He ranks first in multiple wins, ERA, strikeouts (150) and winning percentage (100%). For the first time since the inauguration of the KBO League in 1982, it is worth aiming for 'four pitchers'.

It is also durable. It already exceeded 100 innings (108 ⅔ innings) in the first half. He was responsible for more than seven innings nine times. It is hard to imagine Hanwha in 2025 without Ponce. For Hanwha people who have long agonized as foreign pitchers, Ponce is a blessing.

Ponce's former team, Rakuten Eagles. Special foreign pitchers such as Ponce, who was reborn as the best pitcher in the KBO League, appeared. Right-hander Spencer (29) Howard continues his 100% winning rate in Rakuten, where Ponce has not been established.




Rakuten Mobile Park in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture on the 1st. He went to the Chiba Lotte Marines' home game and recorded two hits and no runs in six innings. Throwing 92 pitches against 20 batters, he struck out six and gave up one walk. Three innings in the first, second and fourth innings were thrown out.

No Chiba Lotte batter was able to step on second base. He collapsed the Chiba Lotte batters by controlling the speed with a knuckle curve and change-up at a fastball of 150 kilometers per hour. He returned after 17 days from a right finger injury and won his fourth victory of the season.

Howard's hard pitching also made the batters dance. He hit 13 hits, including one home run, to win the game 6-0. After four consecutive losses, two wins in a row.




Like Ponce, he has a 100% ERA of 1.53 brilliant pitching, and will he be the first foreign pitcher to win 10 games in 21 years
Rakuten raised its 6-0 salary against Chiba Lotte on the 1st. The batting line hit 13 hits to lighten starter Howard's shoulders. Photo capture = Rakuten Eagles SNS
Like Ponce, he has a 100% ERA of 1.53 brilliant pitching, and will he be the first foreign pitcher to win 10 games in 21 years
Ponse, who started against Kiwoom in Daejeon on June 22. He ranks first in multiple wins-average earned run = strikeouts-winning percentage. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun
Howard thanked him in Japanese during the hero interview that followed after the game. He said "The weather was hot today, but the crowd cheered even hotter," he bowed his head. He also expressed his gratitude to the batters. Japanese media said Howard quickly melted into the team.

He made his debut against Chiba Lotte on May 14. In the first game of the first team, he became the winning pitcher by pitching five hits and no runs in seven innings. The team won 4-0. From this game, he finished four games with four wins and an ERA of 1.53 without losing in six games (more than six innings and less than three earned runs). Throwing 35 ⅓ innings, it is noticeable that there are no home runs.

Rakuten is a team that has not benefited from foreign pitchers for a long time. No foreign starting pitcher has won 10 games since the launch of the team in 2005. '7 wins' is the most in a season. If Howard continues his momentum now, he may become Rakuten's first 10-win pitcher. Ponce went 15-3-6 with a 6.72 ERA for Rakuten last year.




Howard is a former U.S. representative for the 2019 Premier 12. He made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2020. Until last year, he pitched in 47 games (32 starts) and recorded four wins (13 losses). Last season, he played in nine games (three starts) for the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Guardians, with one win and two losses
Like Ponce, he has a 100% ERA of 1.53 brilliant pitching, and will he be the first foreign pitcher to win 10 games in 21 years
Daejeon Hanwha Life Ball Park on the 1st. Ponce, who finished training, is fist-bumping with Yang Sang-moon, the coach. Daejeon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun
-He posted a 6.21 ERA. In December last year, he signed an annual salary of 150 million yen with Rakuten.

Rakuten, which finished in the B-Class (4th to 6th place out of 6 teams) for the second consecutive year, is struggling again this year. As of the 1st, he is now in fifth place. It is 7.5 games against the No. 1 Nippon Ham Fighters.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.