Nestor Cortes' stuff may not seem that nasty, but the results are
Nestor Cortes Jr. of the Yankees pitches during the first inning against the Twins at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
On Thursday at Yankee Stadium, most of the Yankees' pitchers wore T-shirts in pregame warmups honoring mustachioed lefthander Nestor Cortes.
"Nasty Nestor," the shirts read.
"That was a popular shirt," manager Aaron Boone said Friday before Cortes started against the Twins. "I think the guys got a kick out of that. Pretty cool shirt. Yeah. Nasty Nestor."
Cortes, who came into the game with a 2.55 ERA in 14 games (six starts), threw 11 pitches in the first inning. They ranged from 76 mph to 92. Not the kind of stuff that knocks the bat out of your hands.
Not particularly nasty, either, when you get right down to it. But that stuff got three quick outs, the last two of them via strikeout.
After Cortes dropped down sidearm and fired a 92-mph fastball that Josh Donaldson — a righthanded batter — took for a called third strike to end the inning, Donaldson just stood at the plate and stared out at the mound in disbelief.
How is Cortes doing it? How has a 26-year-old pitcher who had a 6.72 ERA coming into 2021 vaulted himself into the Yankees’ rotation? And can he keep it up?
Lefthanded pitchers are not supposed to drop down against righthanded batters. It’s hard enough to do against lefties. But it’s part of what makes Cortes different and what has made him special.
"He's just really athletic," Gerrit Cole said. "So for him, personally, I don't think it's that difficult. There's people that have that talent and then there's starters that exclusively pitch out of the stretch. Each person can have success. It’s really just about who you are, and I think he knows who he is.
"He's pitched a lot through his career and had to find ways to be creative in the minor leagues just to get into this position. Now I think that he's executing those pitches. When he's being creative, he's executing those pitches when he's trying to establish what his plan is going to be that day. That gives him opportunities to kind of duck and dive and dart all over the place. He fields his position well. He gets a few balls, I feel like, back at him in a game and he makes a couple of good plays. He's just kind of the complete package."
Coming into 2021, Cortes was a former Yankee draft pick (2013) and former Yankee (2019) whose re-signing with the club as a minor league free agent in December drew so little notice that he first announced it himself on Instagram.
In 2020, Cortes allowed 13 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings for Seattle. A year earlier, he appeared in 33 games (one start) for the Yankees and had his moments with a 5-1 record, but also had a 5.67 ERA.
After that season, the Yankees traded him to Seattle for international bonus pool money. Not even for another player.
Still, Boone and general manager Brian Cashman must have liked something about Cortes. He started this season in the minors, was called up on May 30 and made his first start on July 4 in the second game of a doubleheader against the Mets.
The Yankees were at a low point after Game 1, having fallen to 41-41 as the Mets scored six runs in the top of the seventh for a 10-5 victory. Cortes then allowed one run in 3 1/3 innings to begin Game 2 as the Yankees won, 4-2, to begin their long hot streak. Beginning with that Cortes start, they had gone 29-11 entering Friday night's game.
Cortes escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning against the Twins, getting a frustrated Willians Astudillo to hit a harmless fly to right for the final out.
Luke Voit had three hits and three RBIs through four innings and Aaron Judge hit his 27th homer, a two-run shot, as the Yankees took a 7-0 lead in the bottom of the inning.
As a starter, Cortes had a 2.73 ERA going into Friday. As a reliever, his ERA is 2.29.
"Actually, just more of the same as he’s continued in a larger role," Boone said. "But it's something that we’ve seen all year. I would just say, overall, he's a better pitcher now. He did some really good things for us in 2019, pitched in some big games, pitched meaningful innings for us, but I would say he's just more advanced from delivery, command, crispness of stuff."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
More Yankees headlines
