Nestor Cortes discusses Yankees' season, rotation and superstar teammates Cole, Soto and Judge (Exclusive)
The New York Yankees are right in the middle of things in the American League pennant race. They’re battling the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East crown and are in contention with the Orioles and Cleveland Guardians for the league’s No. 1 playoff seed.
But after a hot start, which included winning 10 of 12 to begin the season, the Yankees have cooled this summer. They were 14-13 in June and lost 11 of their first 17 in July.
There probably shouldn’t be a lot of panic in the Bronx, though.
Ace Gerrit Cole, who didn’t make his season debut until June 19 due to injury, is back. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are the most intimidating duo in baseball in 2024, both making a case for MVP consideration. And the Yankees likely will make noise at the trade deadline to fill holes, particularly in their infield.
With Cole out, the Yankees rotation held its own, with four members, Nestor Cortes, Marcus Stroman, Luis Gil, and the injured Clarke Schmidt, posting sub-4.00 ERAs. The other starter, Carlos Rodón, won 10 of his 21 outings despite a mid-4.00 ERA.
Cortes, a 2022 All-Star who battled injuries in 2023, agreed to a Q&A with Sportskeeda to discuss the Yankees and his uneven season so far – a 2.48 ERA in 11 starts at home and a 6.04 ERA in 10 road starts – as well as playing with Cole, Soto and Judge.
How would you describe your first half of the season?
Cortes: I feel like it could have been a touch better. People are always asking me about what's going on with the road and home splits. If I had an answer for them, I would gladly respond to that. But as far as getting prepared and doing my stuff home and away, I go about it the same way. I remember last year the question was, ‘Why can’t you go three times through a lineup?’ There’s always a question until you prove it. This year, I've gone in to the seventh inning, eighth inning multiple times. So, now that's not a question anymore. So, I feel like I’ve just got to be aware of what I'm doing outside of Yankee Stadium. And concentrate a little more or whatever the case may be. But I’ve got to figure it out soon.
Have you done anything to focus on your health after your injury-riddled 2023?
Cortes: The 2022 season was the most innings I’ve ever thrown in a season. I threw 158 plus 12 in the playoffs. I've never taken an offseason off. I've always gone to the DR (Dominican Republic) to play winter ball. So, my arm is always moving in some type of way. After I threw that 2022 season, I took a long break. That might have been an influence on not being ready on time (that spring), maybe cranking it up too fast and not giving my body that foundation. Also, I came in with a hamstring injury. So, it could have been hand in hand those two things. Coming into this year. I started my throwing program in December, and two weeks into it, my arm didn’t feel any better.
So, I called up the trainers and I said, ‘Hey, I want to come to Tampa (early). I want to work with you guys. I want to make sure that I'm checking off every box so come season-time, if I'm not ready I know it’s because I didn't do enough.’ That's exactly what I did. Midway through spring training, I was pain-free, and I was able to just work on myself and work on my craft. That was the biggest part last year. From start to start, in between, I couldn't work on anything. So, I slowly lost command, slowly lost pitchability, slowly lost a lot of things until I couldn’t do things anymore. I feel like this year I've been a lot better with that.
With Cole injured, there was a question as to whether the rest of the rotation would step up. How satisfying was it for the group to pitch well until your ace returned?
Cortes: When your reigning Cy Young winner is down, it’s always tough on any rotation, not just us. But I think the guys who were in the rotation throughout this year were professional enough to know the tasks that we had at hand. You are talking about Stroman, Rodón, guys that have been in the league for a while. And also, Clarke Schmidt, who had a really good second half last year and it just transferred over to this year, and he was pitching exceptionally well before he got hurt. So, I think the two biggest questions were me and Luis Gil, who was coming off TJ (elbow surgery) and I was coming off an injured season. We took it pretty well. It wasn't so much I needed to try and show that I could perform. I know that I can perform. It was all about being healthy.
As long as I'm healthy, I know I'm going to be an average to slightly above average pitcher in the league. Am I gonna have bumps in the road? Am I gonna have bad outings? Everybody does. You can’t make 30 perfect starts. But it’s about limiting damage. It's about being available and getting the ball every fifth day. Stroman is the one who preaches it to me: Just be available and don't die, and you'll get paid in this game just because of the availability and how durable you can be. So, I've kind of taken that upon myself.
How much did it help the rotation overall to have Cole back?
Cortes: It's funny, because like two days before he came back, everybody was asking, ‘Who’s going to go to the bullpen?’ Because we were all pitching so well. But this is baseball. It all solves itself. Unfortunately, Clarke got hurt, but we were excited to get Gerrit back. With how good we were doing before Gerrit got back here, we knew he was only going to make us better. It’s huge for us. Even though he’d love to have started the year and have 20 starts under his belt right now, maybe this is good for us because he’s fresh and can be the workhorse he usually is.
Another guy you’ve had a chance to watch this year is first-year Yankee Juan Soto. What impression has he made on you?
Cortes: I think with every superstar, you respect them from afar when they are not on your team, but you don’t know the daily work they put in. So, when he was with the Padres and the Nationals, I'm like, ‘Man, this guy's pretty good.’ But we didn't know the magnitude of him, right? We’ve got it with Judge and (Giancarlo) Stanton. These guys come in here every single day wanting to work. They want to win every single day. They want to perform every single day. And you could just see it by the way they walk in, the way they just go about their business. They just look different. They just feel different. And that's exactly what I saw with Soto. I mean, this guy's 25 years old. At 25, I was still getting DFA’d from teams. Luis Gil is older than Soto. When you put all that into perspective, Soto is really impressive.
You've been with Judge now for several years. Does he continue to impress you daily?
Cortes: I remember when I was here in 2019 and he was good, but he wasn’t performing then the way he is performing now. In 2021, when I came back, he was still performing but again not to this caliber. In 2022, when he hit 62 (homers), I was like, ‘Holy cow. This is a totally different person.’ He always had that leadership and killer instinct. But I don't know if it all came together until 2022.
Stroman and I hang out in the dugout a lot, and he said to me this season, ‘Dude, I used to watch him from afar, but I didn't know he was so impressive.’ And I'm like, ‘This is the 2022 season again.’ Every at-bat, it’s like, ‘OK, he’s gonna hit a homer. Oh, he missed that. He just missed that. OK, he’s gonna homer next time.’ I mean, it’s impressive to have a hitter over 1.000 OPS in the middle of your lineup, let alone have two over 1.000. So, it’s been a fun year watching Judge and Soto. Those guys are, for sure, the top three in the league, if not one and two. And it’s really fun from my side not having to face them.
When you say top three, another player mentioned in that group is Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson. You’ve seen him plenty of times this year. What’s your take on Henderson?
Cortes: He’s a great player. I think he's an all-around player. He has all five tools and I think guys are really starting to notice what he's doing. He did it last year a little bit in the second half and he’s definitely doing it this year. And he deserves everything that’s coming for him right now. He’s one of the best shortstops in the game. And to have a shortstop in your second year with 28 homers and hitting close to .300, I mean, you barely see that anymore.
The Orioles have become the Yankees’ toughest competition. You were with the Orioles briefly in 2018 as a Rule 5 pick before they sent you back. How much different does that organization seem to you now?
Cortes: In 2018, when I was there, they had a respectable team on paper. It was my first time in the big leagues, and I didn’t know any better. I didn’t know what to expect or how to go about being a professional. And that got to me, and I got released by them. It’s different now than when I was there. A front office change. Different coaches. But Brandon Hyde was with the Cubs, so he's been on winning teams. And Fredi González, I grew up watching him with the Marlins. These guys just know a lot about baseball. And it was just a matter of time when those young guys were going to learn how to play the game the right way and how to be consistent with it. They're a great team. We're battling with them for first place, we’re battling for the top spot in the league. This is gonna be a grind for the rest of the season and we only play each other one more series. So, it's gonna be fun going down this road.
Anything else about your team and what you guys need to do to get back to a World Series?
Cortes: We started off hot and that's why we're in the position we are in now. We’ve been in a bad stretch recently. But I think this team has really good potential to be where we want to be at the end of the year. Obviously, we have Soto and Judge at the front of our lineup, doing what they do, and some guys who can put good at-bats together and help complement those two. The pitching staff, the starting rotation, is solid. I know we've had a few bad ones recently, but what we did for three months ain’t lucky or ain’t coincidental. We’re good. And we’re gonna have bad stretches throughout the year. But hopefully, we can turn it all around now. With Gerrit back and giving us strong outings, hopefully that propels us to be better and the bullpen to be better.