The best foreign pitcher to win four gold medals went to Busan himself to receive the Choi Dong-won Award...I'll remember great pitcher Choi Dongwon

Nov 11, 2025

코디 폰세. Photo courtesy = Choi Dong-won Memorial Foundation

"I know how much the award means."

The '12th BNK Choi Dong-won Award' award ceremony to select the best pitcher in Korean professional baseball was held at 2 p.m. on the 11th at the auditorium on the 2nd floor of the Busan Bank headquarters in Nam-gu, Busan.

This year's 'BNK Choi Dong-won Award' went to Cody Ponce (31), the league's best 'monster' who put the Hanwha Eagles to the Korean Series in the 2025 season.

Ponce, the ace of the Hanwha Eagles, broke various KBO records. He became the star of the most strikeouts (18 strikeouts) in a single regular inning, the most wins in consecutive starts (17 consecutive wins) since the opening, and the most strikeouts (252) in a single season.

Ponce also became the first foreign pitcher in the KBO League to write a milestone of four wins (multiple wins, winning percentage, strikeouts, and ERA) with 17 wins and 1 loss in the regular season, 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts.

The fact that the winner of the main award of the Choi Dong-won Award came to his seat for the first time in a long time also attracted great attention. Ponce is currently in South Korea due to the birth of his wife. The plan is to stay in Korea for the time being and carry out the ceremony schedule.

The Choi Dong-won Commemorative Association said, "The best player who has raised his team Hanwha Eagles to the second place in the league with overwhelming performance this season, so that they can enjoy autumn baseball in seven years." "The selection committee unanimously selects the 12th BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-won Award as the main character of the 12th BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-won Award by meeting all the criteria of the ace left by Choi Dong-won." he said.

A match between Samsung and Hanwha in Game 5 of the PO held at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 24th, and Ponce, with two outs and a runner on first base, cheers after catching Kim Ji-chan as a check ball during Kim Sung-yoon's at-bat. Daejeon = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.10.24/

Ponce said, `I know how much the Choi Dong-won Award means to select the best player of the year.' `I especially thank the eight judges for their unanimous selection, and I thank the Hanwha Eagles club, colleagues, and fans.'

Ponce turned to Kim Jeong-ja, Choi's mother, saying, `I will remember the great pitcher, Choi Dong-wonHe also left an award named after a great player, saying, "I'm particularly honored to win this award."

He also left a message for his wife, who recently gave birth to his daughter, saying, `Thank you very much and I love you.'

The prize money of the 「Busan Bank Choi Dong-won Award」 sponsored by BNK Busan Bank is 20 million won.

Photo provided by Choi Dong-won Memorial Foundation

The '8th Presidential High School Choi Dong-won Award' selected by voting of 36 scouts from 10 professional baseball teams went to Shin Dong-gun, a third-year student at Dongsan High School in Incheon.

Following last year, the 6th Baeksong Indomitable Choi Dong-won Prize was returned to the Korean-ethnic school of international studies 'Kyoto International High School'. Kyoto International High School has become a prestigious baseball team in name and reality, winning the Koshien championship last year and reaching the quarterfinals of the Koshien finals this year. In addition to baseball, I appreciated the fact that I am increasing my pride in Korean Japanese by winning the best curriculum award.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.