Blue Jays pitcher Cody Ponce was carted off the field with an ACL sprain on Monday in the team's loss to the Colorado Rockies.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
Cody Ponce, who injured his right knee in his debut with the Blue Jays on Monday in a game against the Rockies, has been moved to the team’s 15-day injured list.
Toronto manager John Schneider said before Tuesday evening’s contest with Colorado that the right-handed pitcher has been diagnosed with an anterior cruciate ligament sprain.
“He will miss significant time, we just don’t know the duration,” Schneider said.
Ponce tried to field a grounder between the pitcher’s mound and first base, bobbled it and took another swipe at it, at which point his knee buckled. He writhed on the infield dirt and laid on his back in pain.
First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. waved at the Blue Jays dugout right away to summon help. The 31-year-old was then removed from the field on a cart.
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Ponce had a magnetic resonance imaging scan Monday night and is currently wearing a brace. The club is awaiting opinions about the MRI from two other doctors.
Schneider said it is not believed Ponce needs surgery as of now. The other doctors’ opinions could change that, and that could possibly threaten Ponce’s season.
Ponce left the game with one out in the third inning after allowing one run and one hit and striking out three.
Ponce reached the major leagues in 2020 with Pittsburgh and had a 1-7 record with the Pirates in two seasons. He was drafted by Milwaukee in 2015 in the second round.
He pitched in Japan for three years before moving on to the KBO League in Korea last year in a further effort to revive his career. There, he was the circuit’s most valuable player and best pitcher. He finished with a 17-1 record and 1.89 earned run average and had 252 strikeouts in 180 2/3rds innings.
Toronto signed him to a three-year US$30-million contract in December and he was the team’s most effective starter during spring training.