Nestor Cortes seems to have reclaimed his “nasty” moniker as this year’s Spring Training trudges along. Cortes also claims that his nagging shoulder is feeling “the best it’s ever been” after a solid outing on Sunday.
Nestor Cortes, affectionately known by fans as “Nasty Nestor”, was an all-star pitcher during the 2022 season, posting career bests in ERA, ERA+, WHIP, and FIP over 158.1 IP. All signs seemed to be pointing upward rolling into the 2023 campaign, but instead, Cortes was plagued with injuries and an inability to make it through the third revolution of the batting order unscathed.
The Yankees starting rotation has come under fire by fans as of late due to Cortes and Rodon being “question marks” leading into the 2024 season. Hal Steinbrenner remarked that the roster can “never have enough pitching“, while at the same time, top-rated Scott Boras represented free agents like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery remain unsigned as Spring Training is in full swing. If the Yankees’ projected number two and four starters can have a bounce-back performance after suffering a rough 2023 campaign, that bodes well for the chances of the franchise making the postseason after an uncharacteristic postseason absence last year.
Cortes began to utilize some of his “tricky” pitches that Yankees fans missed last season, mixing in a few hesitation deliveries and lower arm slots across a solid four-inning, three-strikeout effort against the Tigers as he built his pitch count up to 54. He did give up one hit, a solo home run, but indicated how he’s feeling:
“Just feeling like I was in a rhythm, everything was flowing. Gave up that bomb, but everything else was easygoing and throwing strikes and pounding the zone and was able to command pitches.”
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Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said he thought Cortes had looked good all spring, after an offseason in which he transitioned most of his workouts and rehab to the Yankees’ player development complex, but liked seeing more of it as he continued his buildup of volume.
“His bounce-back’s been good in between [outings], so that’s been exciting,” Boone said. “Just gotta keep going with it.”
After a solid outing last Monday where Cortes struck out four, he remarked that three or four days after his start, he remembered feeling like it had been a week since he last pitched because of how good he felt.
“The hardest part is going to be next time around, four innings-plus and then next time around five innings-plus,” he said. “The buildup and the workload is going to have to be managed, for sure, going into the season. But after today, I feel super confident that next time around it’s going to be great again, just because of how I felt and what I did last week with my recovery and staying on schedule.”
So far this spring. Cortes has started two games and pitched 6.2 innings. His stats tell a story of recovery as he has allowed eight hits, three earned runs, one home run, a 1.35 WHIP, and logged seven strikeouts.
Cortes’ full recovery will be of prime importance as the Yankees enter the 2024 season. All signs do appear to be positive as he eases into a greater volume of pitches and employs some entertaining tricks along the way.
