CLEVELAND — First off, know this about Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes and his recent come-back-to-Earth pitching:
No worries.
None.
He feels this way even though his numbers have drastically dropped off of late. He was maybe the best pitcher in baseball pitching to 1.50 ERA over his first 10 starts. Since, he’s at 6.24 over his last four, three disappointing ones and one good one in the stretch.
“I’m not putting too much thought behind this,” Cortes said before Friday night’s Yankees-Guardians’ game was rained out. “If my worst ones are going to be three or four runs, I’ll take that every day.”
That’s a good point.
Cortes’ two worst outings this season came in June, both of them 4 1/3-inning, four-run starts in road losses to the Twins on June 8 and Rays on June 21. After that, his least effective starts were a pair of five-inning, three-run outings, the first a win over the White Sox on May 21 and the next a no-decision against the Astros last Sunday, his most recent start.
“I’ve made some adjustments,” Cortes said. “I’m still making them.”
Cortes is hoping for improvement Saturday night when he starts Game 2 of the Yankees and Guardians’ day-night doubleheader at Progressive Field.
He thinks he’s identified the problem: His command hasn’t been quite what it was.
Cortes only has walked six over 19 innings in his last four starts and his percentage of strikes during the stretch actually has increased to 70% after being at 67% in his first 10, but he’s been more in the middle and paying for it.
“That’s bad for everybody, even guys who throw 100,” Cortes said.
Cortes never has and never will come close to pulling an Aroldis Chapman and throw 100-mph fastballs, but his four-seamers velo slightly has been increasing as the season has gone along.
He’s not trying to throw harder, it’s just coming in harder, maybe due to the warmer weather. Regardless, his fastball average was 90.4 mph in April, then jumped to 91.1 mph in May and 92.3 mph in June. In May, opponents hit .122 when putting his fastballs into play. In June, the average climbed to .255.
“Maybe that’s taking a little bit off my command,” Cortes said.
Maybe.
Again … no worries.
“I’ve gone back and watched video,” he said. “My pitch shapes and pitch movements have been good. It’s probably i need need to throw the ball more to the area I want to throw it.”
Cortes still has overall stats that are All-Star worthy. He’s 6-3 with a 2.51 ERA was eighth best in the AL heading into the weekend. He’s also sixth in the league in opponents’ batting average (.203), 10th in WHIP (0.99), tied for 12th in strikeouts per nine innings (9.68) and tied for 16th in walks per nine innings (2.16).
“My body is in a good place,” he said. “My arm is in a good place. Mentally, I’m good. It’s a matter of riding the wave.”
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected].