Cody Ponce (31) of the Hanwha Eagles, Col Irvin (31) of the Doosan Bears, and their new faces, who dream of becoming the best foreign pitcher in the KBO League in 2025, have completed the actual match of the exhibition game. Expectations have risen to the fullest before the opening of the season.토토사이트

Ponce started an exhibition game against Changwon NC on the 16th and pitched five scoreless innings. Son Ah-seop, Park Min-woo and Park Gun-woo, all three of the most sophisticated hitters in the KBO league, did not allow a hit against NC. The fastball with a maximum speed of 155km and the high-speed slider with a speed of 140km stood out.

Irvin also showed off his overwhelming ball power at Gocheok on the same day. He struck out six without a walk against Kiwoom, which had two foreign batters, and held four scoreless innings. The maximum speed of his fastball was 154km, and he used various pitches, including curves, changeups, cutters, and sweepers.

Ponce and Irvin have pitched in two exhibition games without losing any points. Ponce allowed four strikeouts and no runs in four innings against SSG on the 10th, his first appearance in an official KBO game. On the same day, Irvin pitched three innings of four strikeouts and no runs against Samsung.

He is also boosting his pace to coincide with the opening of the season. Ponce said he was not very satisfied with his pitching capability until his first game on Wednesday. However, after the game against NC on Wednesday, he said he was satisfied with his pitching overall. Irvin did not throw any of the three pitches, including sweeper, curveball, and cutter, during the game against Samsung on Sunday. He said he wanted to minimize exposure to his power. However, he finished the last check by utilizing these pitches in his game on Sunday.

Ponce and Irvin have been a hot topic since they joined the team. This is because their careers are so spectacular.

Ponce played in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for three seasons until last year. When he was a member of Nippon Ham in 2022, he pitched a no-hitter. Irvin continued to rotate the rotation of starting pitchers in the Major League. Last year, he pitched 29 times including 16 starts and posted an ERA of 5.11. Attention was paid to the actual pitching capability of the two players, who had the most experiences, and both clearly proved themselves by pitching in exhibition games without allowing even a single goal.

Ponce and Irvin are considered leading contenders for the title of "League's top ace" this season. Not only players' individual pride but also their team's performance is highly likely to be influenced by them.

Hanwha and Doosan had the worst performance among foreign pitchers last year. In terms of wins among foreign pitchers, Hanwha ranked ninth with a total of 16 wins last year, while Doosan ranked last with 13 wins. Even in terms of WAR (contributions to wins compared to replacement players), Hanwha and Doosan posted a record of 6.35 and Doosan 5.53, ranking ninth to 10th.

Both teams made all-out efforts to recruit strong foreign aces during the off-season, and the result is Ponce and Irvin. Hanwha and Doosan are considered as potential competitors for the top five teams this season as well. Depending on the performance of foreign aces, the two teams may have mixed feelings at the end of the season.