Nestor Cortes, Yankees ace

[jacksonianmarch]

Nestor Cortes seems like a gimmick, but he’s got the AL’s best ERA since 2021 for pitchers with 120+IP. He also became the first Yankee to have less than 6ER in their first 6 starts of a season. His start to 2022 has been legendary. And when you watch him, you see why he’s so good. He can top out at 94mph but his FB can be thrown from multiple arm angles, can range in speed by 5mph and plays up to hitters due to spin rate. His cutter is dynamite and he can throw that from different angles. Fangraphs doesn’t list a cutter, but does list a slider. He throws a cutter that’s 87, a slider at 85 a curve at 76 and a change at 83. He’s hard to compare to others. You’ve got a little guy like Johan Santana, but Santana was more a power fastball devastating change guy. There’s Jamie Moyer, but he throws harder than him and racks up more K’s. He’s almost like a lefty vintage Corey Kluber with movement, command, and the ability to strike out the whole lineup. I haven’t seen a transformation from outright scrub to dominant ace in a pitcher who doesn’t have top shelf velocity or a single pitch that is outright unhittable. He’s must watch baseball, IMO. I do love watching Cole, but I know what I’m gonna see there, 99-100 fastball, devastating slider, change worked in the mix middle innings. He’s pure power. But Cortes is pure deception and he absolutely dominates. I love watching this kid

[JDavis76]

Not bad for a guy who was the former 36th-round Yankees draftee who’s been released, DFA’ed and for good measure traded for international pool money.

[jacksonianmarch]

Not bad for a guy who was the former 36th-round Yankees draftee who’s been released, DFA’ed and for good measure traded for international pool money.

 

He has an edge to him that makes me think this isn't a flash in the pan. I think this kid found something. And for a guy like this, on days when he doesnt have his best stuff he still manages not to get hammered. That's the crazy thing. Most guys like this are demolished when they don't have it yet he avoids it.

[JDavis76]

He has an edge to him that makes me think this isn't a flash in the pan. I think this kid found something. And for a guy like this, on days when he doesnt have his best stuff he still manages not to get hammered. That's the crazy thing. Most guys like this are demolished when they don't have it yet he avoids it.

 

It seems everything changed for him when he developed the cutter

[jacksonianmarch]

It seems everything changed for him when he developed the cutter

 

The cutter changed the eye level, which is crazy. Cutters usually have late lateral motion. His drops too. As a hitter, when you see spin and the beginnings of lateral motion, you typically think slider with bigger movement and some drop. With Nestor, you don't know if it's gonna be 87 with tight spin late movement and small drop or it's gonna be 83 and sweep all across the zone. He uses the cutter so well that he can get strikes with it, which makes his 4 seamer much more difficult to handle or he uses it with his slider as his K pitch by throwing it at the bottom of the zone and it dives out of the strike zone at last split second.

[jacksonianmarch]

Another awesome, awesome game

[Northern Star]

Not so hot with the tweets, though, apparently.

[jacksonianmarch]

When he was 17. I’m so glad social media wasn’t around when I was in high school.

[jacksonianmarch]

Cortes has nothing today