Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz

Nov 24, 2025

Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz
The 2025 KBO Award Ceremony was held at Lotte Hotel in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 24th. Hanwha Ponce, who achieved four gold medals (average earned run, strikeout, winning percentage, and winning), is giving his acceptance speech. Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.11.24/



Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz
2025 KBO awards ceremony was held at Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 24th. Hanwha Ponce, who won the ERA, strikeout, winning percentage and victory in the pitching category, is posing. Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.11.24/
Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz
2025 KBO awards ceremony was held at Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 24th. Hanwha Ponce, who won the ERA, strikeout, winning percentage and victory in the pitching category, is posing. Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.11.24/
The best pitcher became the best player of the 2025 season.

Cody Ponce of the Hanwha Eagles has been named the MVP of the regular league in the 2025 season.

Ponce was named MVP at the 2025 KBO Awards held at Lotte Hotel World Crystal Ballroom in Seoul on the 24th. In a press corps vote held immediately after the regular league ended, 96 votes, or 76% of the 125 votes cast.




He is the fifth Hanwha player to win the MVP award in 19 years after Jang Jong-hoon (1991, 1992) Koo Dae-sung (1996) and Ryu Hyun-jin (2006).

It is the ninth foreign player of all time after Woods (1998·OB), Rios (2007, Doosan), Thames (2015·NC), Nippert (2016·Doosan), Lindblom (2019, Doosan), Rojas (2020, KT), Miranda (2021, Doosan), and Peddy (2023, NC).

It was an MVP competition that was expected to be a fierce two-way race.




Up until the middle of the season, Ponce was the sole candidate. From the beginning, he overwhelmed KBO league hitters and was evaluated as the `best pitcher' this season, and continued his unbeaten streak, ranking first in ERA and strikeouts. In the end, he became the best pitcher with 17 wins and 1 loss, 1.89, 252 strikeouts, and a winning rate of 0.944, winning four gold medals, including multiple wins, ERA, strikeouts, and winning percentage. The 252 strikeouts are also a new record for the most strikeouts in a season.

Hanwha, led by Ponce, finished second after competing for first place with the LG Twins until the end, making its first fall baseball in seven years since third place in 2018, and in the playoffs, Ponce scored no runs in the last five games to lift the team to the Korean Series, and in Game 3 of the Korean Series, he allowed two runs in six innings, laying the groundwork for a miraculous come-from-behind victory.

Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz
The 2025 KBO Award Ceremony was held at Lotte Hotel in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 24th. Samsung Diaz, who won the first baseman's defense award, is giving his acceptance speech. Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.11.24/
Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz
The 2025 KBO Award Ceremony was held at Lotte Hotel in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 24th. Hanwha Ponce, who achieved four gold medals (average ERA, strikeout, winning percentage, and winning), is receiving a bouquet of congratulations from general manager Son Hyuk. Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.11.24/
Jang Jong-hoon → Koo Dae-sung → Ryu Hyun-jin → Pon-se. For the first time as a foreigner in Hanwha. MVP was born after 19 years. Four-time winner Ponce beat three-time winner Diaz
The 2025 KBO Award Ceremony was held at Lotte Hotel in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 24th. Hanwha Ponce, who achieved four gold medals (average earned run, strikeout, winning percentage, and winning), is giving his acceptance speech. Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.11.24/
But Diaz's last-minute spurt was scary. Diaz was also likely to win three gold medals, including RBI and slugging percentage, as the home run leader.

He threatened Ponce by sweeping home runs and RBIs in the last minute.

Diaz, who had 48 home runs and 144 RBIs in 138 games, posted as many as 14 RBIs in just six games, setting a new record of 158 RBIs, surpassing Park Byung-ho's record of 146 RBIs in a season in 2015.

He hit his 50th home run in Daegu KIA on September 30, his 143rd game, and became the fourth player to hit the 50th home run after Lee Seung-yeop (54 in 1999 and 56 in 2003), Shim Jung-soo (53 in 2003) and Park Byung-ho (52 in 2014 and 53 in 2015). With a slugging percentage of 0.644, he ranked first with the only slugging percentage in the 0.60s and won three gold medals.

In the fight between the four-time foreign pitcher who set a new strikeout record and the three-time foreign hitter who set an RBI record, the press team evaluated that Ponce's pitching dominated the league. Diaz had 23 votes, or 18%.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.