Yankees' Nestor Cortes feeling no shoulder issues after throwing
Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes during spring training at the team's facility in Tampa, Fla., on Friday. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
TAMPA, Fla. — Nestor Cortes’ message was clear enough: Don’t worry about me.
“As long as I’m healthy, I think I’ll be fine,” he said Friday.
Almost nothing was fine last season for Cortes, who dealt with shoulder issues pretty much from the time he showed up for spring training. He went 5-2 but had a 4.97 ERA and made only 12 starts.
All of that came after a breakthrough 2022 season in which he went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA.
Because of last year’s backslide, Cortes is right up near the top when it comes to the slew of question marks in the intended 2024 rotation. But he said he had a normal offseason when it came to his preparation and “should be ready to go” for the regular season.
“Once I’m healthy, once I feel everything is right, I can be as good as anybody,” Cortes said. “That’s kind of my mentality.”
The primary sign last season that Cortes wasn’t quite right was his recovery — the inordinate amount of soreness he experienced after throwing.
Aaron Boone said that area is among the most “encouraging” aspects of spring training, based on what he’s observed with Cortes.
“That’s where he was having a lot of the hiccups last year, like that day after, just having a really hard time bouncing back,” Boone said after Friday's workout. “So far on that, his build-up’s going according to plan. He’s in line now in his build-up to be pretty much full clip by Opening Day.”
Boone said he anticipates that Cortes will be in the “90-ish” range when it comes to his pitch count by the end of spring training, which would be typical for any starter when camp breaks.
Cortes said he began his throwing program in early December. Shortly after that, he shuttled regularly between his home in Miami and the Yankees' minor-league complex in Tampa, usually arriving on Sunday night or Monday morning and heading back for the weekend.
He, like Boone, has been encouraged by his recovery after throwing.
“As of now, I’ve thrown four lives [batting-practice sessions]. Everything feels great,” said Cortes, whose fastball in his most recent live BP was in the range of 91 to 93 mph, which is where it sits when he’s healthy. “No issues, no extra day [off] because I’m too sore. No issues at all.”
Perhaps leading the list of rotation questions for the Yankees is lefthander Carlos Rodon, who signed a six-year, $162 million free-agent contract before the 2023 season and then embarked on a disastrous campaign. It began with him on the injured list and ended with him having a 3-8 record and a 6.85 ERA in 14 starts.
Rodon, like Cortes and a large number of other players, was an early arrival in Tampa at the minor-league complex for workouts.
“Seeing Rodon last year and seeing him this year, it’s night and day,” Cortes said. “We’ve been here [in Tampa] almost the same exact amount of time. I think he got here Jan. 1 or 2 and we’ve been working together ever since. He’s really, really sharp.”
Cortes said Rodon’s “command” has stood out to him, as well as his velocity, as he touched 97 mph in his most recent live BP. Cortes, Rodon and Marcus Stroman threw live sessions Wednesday.
“That’s encouraging for him,” Cortes said of Rodon. “I know that’s where he wants to be. We’ve been working hard here.”
Cortes said he drew inspiration from the number of teammates he saw at the minor-league complex so long before spring training began.
“Seeing all these guys here motivated me to come even more [from Miami],” Cortes said. “I saw they were getting ready and I wanted to make sure I checked all the boxes.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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