How Yankees southpaw Nestor Cortes went from underdog to All-Star
Nestor Cortes’ parents were in attendance at the Stadium for Game 1 of the ALDS and their ears received somewhat of a pleasant shock during the player introductions.
“After the game, they said, ‘Man, we couldn't believe what we heard out there’ ” Cortes said Wednesday afternoon before the Yankees' workout. “I remember walking up the (player) line and everyone is like, ‘You got the biggest ovation,’ blah, blah blah.”
Cortes smiled and said: “Until (Aaron) Judge came up, obviously.”
If Cortes, set to start Game 2 of the ALDS Thursday night against the Guardians, performs the way he has much of this season, the roars from the Stadium crowd will dwarf what he heard before Game 1.
The lefthander, because of a 12-4, 2.44 regular season in which he was the rotation’s most consistent starter by far, was given serious consideration by the organization – as was Luis Severino – rather than Gerrit Cole for the prestige of a Game 1 start.
“This has been going on for about 16 months now where he's been one of the best pitchers in the league,” Aaron Boone said Wednesday.
Cole, whose trouble with the home run this season caused its share of concern organizationally going into the playoffs, proved equal to the task in Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory in Game 1 as he allowed one run, three hits and one walk over 6 1/3 innings in which he struck out eight.
Next up is Cortes, whose pedigree couldn’t be much different than Cole’s.
Cole was on the radar of pro scouts from the time he was a teenager and ultimately was picked No. 1 overall by the Pirates in the 2011 draft.
He has, in essence, been the star he was projected to be.
Cortes?
The 27-year-old, who was born in Cuba and moved to the U.S. (Miami) when he was seven months old, was an MLB journeyman before his career as a starter began to take hold the second half of 2021. Cortes, picked in the 36th round of the 2013 draft by the Yankees – the same draft that produced Judge, who was taken 30th overall by the Bombers – has bounced around. He went from the Yankees organization to the Orioles (2018), back to the Yankees (2019) to the Mariners (2020) before the Yankees signed him as a minor league free agent in December 2020.
The pitcher began 2021 in the bullpen as an afterthought but, out of desperation, the Yankees put Cortes in the rotation shortly after the 2021 All-Star break and his performance allowed him to stick. Cortes produced a 3.31 ERA in 12 starts from July 28 until the end of the regular season and he entered this season with a rotation spot secured.
But Cortes, named to his first All-Star team this season, never saw it that way, he instead taking the attitude he needed to continue to prove himself from the Grapefruit League season on.
“I go out there every time, every fifth day, like it's the last time I'm going to pitch,” Cortes said. “I think that's how I've handled my whole career, even in the minor leagues. So for me to be able to go out there and enjoy the moment and just be part of it, I think that's what keeps me level-headed and with that sense of urgency to do well every time.”
It is a perspective born from grinding his way through the minors without the kind of arsenal associated with the Jacob deGroms and Coles of the baseball world, and a perspective that makes Cortes not only immensely popular among the fan base but in the Yankees’ clubhouse as well.
“He, in a lot of ways, was an underdog,” Boone said. “Was a low-round pick that wasn't a prospect necessarily that's kind of found his way to being an All-Star pitcher. So that is I think story people can get behind.”
Boone added: “He's had to scratch and claw for everything he's gotten. He's risen from the ranks of non-prospect to prospect to … when he first started coming up with us, it was kind of on the (minor league) shuttle, bulk out of the bullpen, spot start here, and all along the way, he's continued to become more and more of a polished, better pitcher. And then he combines that, ‘I'm going to treat this like the last game I might ever pitch’ (attitude). He's competitive as heck, but he has a lot of fun doing what he's doing. I think people can learn a lot from Nestor about the way he goes about things."
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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