Never a dull day in the Bronx. While the baseball world was rife with speculations, the New York Yankees surprised everyone by announcing Nestor Cortes Jr. as their starting pitcher for Opening Day. Coming off a disappointing season, this is a rousing endorsement by the team for Cortes. Still, with Spring Training giving mixed signals, questions about the Nasty Nestor still prevail.

Will the Yankees be able to cope without their ace Gerrit Cole? Will we see a game dominated by one starter or will Aaron Boone depend more on the collective strength of his bullpen? But the most important one is – Can Cortes return to his peak All-Star form this season? Cortes, to his credit, is highly confident about his comeback.

Nestor Cortes looked grateful about his selection. Not lacking any self-belief,  he revealed how he told the staff about being ready to take the mettle. “I told them that I’m prepared for it and he knew from it that I was. He knew that I could take up that task,” Cortes said.

“Like I said, I’ve been up and down. I’ve been back and forth between starting and bullpen. I’ve been put into a lot of different roles in my career. So I feel like I can be the guy to go out there and show everybody that I can be the guy,” Cortes looked confident in his comeback. The pitcher was laser-focused on day one and how he rehabs for it. With the absence of Cole, it becomes imperative for Cortes to be available every 5 days and the pitcher understood that fact.

However, one still wonders if he can stage a monumental comeback this season. One positive for him is the fact that 2023 was uncharacteristically low for him in Pinstripes. More importantly, it was the injuries that derailed his momentum. 

Why a return to form could be in the cards for Nestor Cortes

In 2021-22, Cortes had a 2.61 ERA in 50 games. Never a fastball merchant, the pitcher depends on movement and deception to strike out batters. Perhaps that’s why his return to form seems quite plausible. Usually, injuries affect pitchers who are dependent on their fastballs; however, with Cortes’ unique style, he’d have no such issues. On the other hand, Cortes feels good about his body after the rotator cuff issues affected his season last year.

Till now in Spring Training, Cortes has been pitching every 6 days. That was one of the reasons why he got this nod. According to the New York Post – Marcus Stroman preferred staying in his Game 3 timeline, so Cortes became the chosen one. But that could be a blessing in disguise as Cortes could show once again that he can be – The Guy. 

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