Tag: Nestor Cortes Jr.

Why the heck did Aaron Boone bring in Nestor Cortes in extras before Freddie Freeman’s home run?

What a horrible call by the Yankees manager.

The question above is one New York Yankees fans are asking their manager and themselves after their team’s Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.

Nestor Cortes had a very up-and-down 2024 season, but more importantly, he hadn’t pitched since September 18 heading into Game 1. That’s over a month off between appearances, and while Cortes can be good when he’s on, bringing him in extra innings to face the top of the Dodgers’ lineup was a strange call by Boone.

Fans agreed, and of course Cortes gave up the game-winning grand slam to Freddie Freeman.

Here are thoughts from fans and Boone himself:

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Nestor Cortes survived a bases loaded situation with an absurdly athletic fielding play

What a play!!

You hopefully know by now that New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is the king of the delay-windeup pitch that gets hitters off their rhythm.

But it turns out Cortes is also an amazing fielder, or at least he was for one play during Friday’s ALDS Game 2 against the Cleveland Guardians.

Facing the bases loaded against Myles Straw and two outs, he got the hitter to bounce one right up the middle … but Cortes leaped up and snagged it, then threw from laying on the ground to first for the out, ending the inning.

WOW. An incredible, timely, terrific play:

So good.

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Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes did some weird moves with his body before firing a perfect strike

This was so darn cool.

The New York Yankees have been in the news a lot lately because of Aaron Judge and his home run chase that keeps interrupting college football games. They’re also a pretty good baseball team that has won the AL East this year and are looking to win their first World Series since 2009.

One guy who should be getting more attention is lefty pitcher Nestor Cortes. He improved to 12-4 with a win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday and should play a pivotal role in the team’s postseason run.

Cortes also has some of the coolest delayed windups in baseball. Look at what he did on Saturday with nobody on base:

Dude was staring at centerfield before striking out Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle. I need to see these delayed windups in the postseason.

And no, that wasn’t a balk:

Cortes, by the way, finished with 12 strike outs in 7 1/3 innings of work

Twitter had reactions to his windup:

Nestor Cortes’s funky delayed-windup strikeout had everyone in awe

Another funky delayed delivery to get a strikeout for Nestor Cortes.

We’ve seen this before from Nestor Cortes.

The New York Yankees pitcher who’s having a breakout year with a 10-4 record and a 2.70 ERA has used his bizarre, delayed windup to strike out hitters like Shohei Ohtani. It’s made opposing hitters laugh because it’s so wild.

Cortes was at it again on Wednesday night in a matchup against the Boston Red Sox.

He was facing Rafael Devers, Boston’s best hitter. And on a 3-2 pitch, he went to a very funky delivery. First, it looked normal, but then he got his right leg BEHIND his left leg, delaying his delivery and throwing off Devers’ timing, before he fired.

WOW:

Nestor Cortes on Jim Kaat’s offensive nickname for him: ‘People make mistakes’

Kaat bizarrely gave him an awful nickname.

Minnesota Twins broadcaster and Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Kaat is in hot water once again for comments made on the air.

In 2021, he made an awful joke during a Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox ALDS game.

And earlier this week, while commenting during a Twins and Detroit Tigers game, he started talking about New York Yankees breakout pitcher Nestor Cortes.

For some reason, Kaat decided to nickname him, “Nestor the Molester.”

The usual nickname I’ve seen thrown around for Cortes these days is Nasty Nestor. 

But Cortes seems to be forgiving of Kaat. Let’s look back at what happened:

Yankees’ Nestor Cortes Jr.’s bizarre, delayed windup made a Mets hitter laugh

It’s apparently not a balk!

The last time we featured New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr., he was trying anything and everything to get Shohei Ohtani out — delaying his windup, fast pitching, changing his arm slot … and it worked!

On Sunday, Cortes Jr. got the start in the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, and while facing Brandon Nimmo, he messed with the outfielder’s timing by starting his windup, delaying a little bit and then firing. It was a ball, but it didn’t matter — it was awesome and Nimmo was laughing like the rest of us.

This is Cortes’s thing, and it’s delightful!

Yankees’ Nestor Cortes Jr. uses every trick in the book to get Shohei Ohtani out

It worked!

Shohei Ohtani is nearly impossible to stop right now.

He’s leading the majors in home runs with 28 after hitting two huge dingers on Tuesday night, giving him 13 in June.

The only man who could stop him was … Nestor Cortes Jr.

I’m serious. The New York Yankees reliever actually did an amazing job on Tuesday night getting Ohtani to hit a long fly ball for an out, but he had to resort to some tricks in order to do it.

Cortes — known for changing up his arm slot — got him swinging and missing with a three-quarter arm slot pitch. He followed up by delaying his next pitch as he went into his windup, which was interrupted by the home plate ump. With Ohtani laughing, Cortes quick-pitched him for a ball.

Then? A side-armer for the pop-up. Amazing.

Seriously, this is totally his thing. Check out what he did to Bryce Harper last week, which is probably what he was attempting Tuesday before the ump stopped play:

Cortes has a 1.02 ERA, so maybe he knows what he’s doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjKXgqwrHxs

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