Some players just make it look easy. That is the key word- make it look easy. Take Nestor Cortes Jr. as a prime example. He looks relaxed on the mound. He seems like he has it all together. YES Network's Jack Curry even likened his relaxed pitching style to a wiffle ball throw—simple but powerful. But to get to this relaxed and successful space, it takes commitment, dedication, practice and yes failure. Nestor Cortes Jr credits this success to having hit rock bottom in order to reset and become the pitcher he is today.
According to the New York Post, "The legend of the sometime-sidearming Nestor is growing so big it can barely be contained in The Bronx. Cortes, the former 36th-round Yankees draftee who’s been released, DFA’ed and for good measure traded for international pool money (which isn’t exactly a compliment because it means you’ve been sold for who knows what), out of almost nowhere for now is the Yankees’ best pitcher and one of the best in the league."
In 2018 Nestor Cortes pitched for the last place Baltimore Orioles. They finished 47-115, a record that NJ.com recalls as "the second-worst record in the major leagues since the turn of the century." But what made matters worse is that Cortes got cut from the team. The blow was devastating to the young pitcher.
“Well,” Cortes told himself at the time, “I just got released by one of the worst teams in baseball.” “I was in a bad place,” he remembers now, reported NJ.com. What a difference three years makes. In 2021 Cortes was credited with saving the Yankees. He was called up in May and ended the season with a spectacular 2.90 ERA in 93 innings for the Bombers. This year, Cortes picked up where he left off.
"On Monday, the Yankees’ left-hander took a no-hitter 7⅓ innings while striking out 11 against the Texas Rangers in a 1-0 win at Yankee Stadium. His team sits atop the majors with a 20-8 record, and Cortes’ 1.41 ERA in six starts was second-best among American League starting pitchers," reported NJ.com.
You have to root for a guy like Nestor. He is humble, he is a good teammate, he wants to win and improve his pitching with every outing. He wants to contend and be at his best, even forgoing the Arizona Fall League or in the Dominican winter league for extra money. Nestor Cortes Jr. is the real deal despite his rocky road to success.
"Cortes, 27, bounced around so much that manager Aaron Boone referred to his many struggles after his masterful outing that included one hit over 7 ¹/₃ innings as “the journey.” Conversely, the game and the games are seeming to come easier by the start for the everyman lefthander who became the first Yankees pitcher ever to rack up 40 strikeouts with six or fewer runs in his first six starts of a season," reported The Post.
When you watch Nestor pitch or hang over the dugout rail rooting for his teammates, you can see in his eyes the determination and fight to just be here. That is what baseball is all about—working hard, making it look easy and having fun along the way. You have to experience failure in order to learn. You have to feel what it is like to get cut, to lose, to fight, in order to appreciate the win. Nestor Cortes Jr is that guy. And his success is all the sweeter because of how he got here.
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--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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