Yankees’ Nestor Cortes talks rise to stardom, newfound fame

TAMPA — Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes’ spring training began with disappointment.

When showing up early to get ready to play Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, he mentioned that he’d tweaked his right hamstring running sprints at home a week earlier. That led to doctor visits and an MRI and then the Yankees telling him to pull out of the WBC.

Cortes knew that was the right call because the Yankees come first, but he was still really bummed. He couldn’t wait to put on a WBC game jersey with USA on the chest.

He was born in Cuba, but Hialeah, Fla., has been home since he was a baby. The United States gave his parents’ freedom when they won a lottery to leave communism in 1995.

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“I wanted to play in the WBC so bad,” Cortes said.

The WBC started this week with Cortes healthy. He’s been throwing bullpens and facing hitters. He threw another live BP on Wednesday morning. The plan is for one more to keep building up his pitch count in a controlled environment and then get him some game action.

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Cortes’ focus now is on repeating his 2022. This time a year ago, he felt like he was battling for a rotation spot even though he’d been so good and so consistent in the second half of the previous season following a call-up from Triple-A.

His rotation spot never really was in jeopardy, but his determination and ability led to sensational first full season in the majors, a 12-4 record with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts.

Cortes is a classic rags to riches baseball story as a 36th-round pick in 2013 who went from the Yankees to the Orioles back to the Yankees to the Mariners and to the Yankees for a third time before making it big. Prior to 2021, he had a 6.72 ERA over 42 MLB outings.

Yankees fans started getting smitten in ‘21 when Cortes kept doing this thing, then they fell in love last season. They love his story. They love his funky deliveries. They love his bushy mustache.

He’s a clubhouse favorite, too. Teammates always are walking around before games wearing “Nasty Nestor” T-shirts.

With a new season starting soon, Cortes detailed how his life has changed since his rise to Yankees star and shared his mindset for 2023 in an interview Wednesday with NJ Advance Media.

What was life like down for South Florida this offseason for Nestor Cortes the All-Star? Different from past offseasons?

I spent most of my time down in the Keys because we own a house there, so we were kind of secluded. We invited friends and family, and they’d drive an hour from Miami to hang out.

Lots of fishing with dad?

Every weekend morning. We’d be up at 6 a.m.

Were you recognized more when you were out and about in Hialeah?

Here and there. A couple guys asked for pictures and autographs.

Were you ever out somewhere and noticed a fan wearing a Cortes Yankees jersey?

That happened. I was in Miami at a restaurant. It might have been Chile’s. A grown man had on a pinstripes Yankees jersey with Cortes on the back.

Did you walk up to him and say, ‘Nice shirt?’

No, I just looked his way and thought, ‘Is that guy really wearing a Nestor Cortes jersey?’ It did make me feel great. One of my friends went to a mall near my house, Dolphin Mall. A store there had a whole rack of my jerseys, probably 8-to-10. My friend went back to buy one a few days later and they were gone. Sold out. The store had to restock.

Wow. Nobody was wearing a Cortes jersey two years ago. Do you think fame has changed you at all? Are you the same guy?

Same guy. I feel like there’s more to be done for me to change. Yeah, I know I reached this status where people start looking at me. I’m under a magnifying glass a little more. But I feel like I’ve got to do this for another three or four years. Maybe if I make a second All-Star Game this year my life will change forever!

When you’ll go Hollywood?

Basically! … I don’t know. I did well for one year. Great.

Actually two. In ‘21 you were up from the minors by the end of May, you were the rotation by early July and ended up with an ERA in the 2s. You’re not giving yourself enough credit for 2021.

I agree. But now it’s, ‘Can you do it again?’ That’s a question everybody asks about me. “Can he do it again?’ If I do it this year, it’ll be, ‘Can he do it a third time?’ There’s always going to be that question with me.

Do you feel that way because you’re not a big guy and you don’t throw hard?

Yeah. I don’t throw 100. I feel I get underrated for that. But it’s OK. That makes me feel pressure to go out there and show people that I can do it.

I’m surprised you feel that way. Yankees fans that I encounter don’t think there’s anything fluky about what you’ve accomplished.

I guess you’re right. I’ve seen stuff on Twitter. I know Yankees fans are expecting a big season.

Are you looking for a similar season with more innings? You finished with 158 last year, which was about 45 more than any other year. Aaron Boone probably will loosen the reins this year.

If I didn’t miss two starts last year, I would have had 170. That’s a pretty good chunk. Maybe Boonie will let me go further now that I’ve thrown 150-plus innings last year.

Are you completely over your hamstring issue? Everything going as planned?

Everything’s good. I’ve thrown a couple of lives where I’ve looked pretty good. I’m anxious to throw in a game.

Will you continue with the stop-and-go twists in your delivery? Fans love it and hitters hate it.

Of course. As long as it’s fun and it works, I think it goes hand in hand.

Fans love your story. It took you a long time to stay in the big leagues let along make it big. Did you ever think about quitting?

I could have quit so many times. People asked me if I ever would quit. No, this is the only thing I know how to do. I’ve been playing baseball since I was four. They would literarily have to kick me out of here to stop playing or tell me I’m not good enough.

Was there a specific moment where you thought you finally made it after years of switching organizations and getting cups of coffee in the majors here and there? Was it sometime in the second half of 2021 following your call-up?

I feel like I turned the corner when I was got to the All-Star Game last July and people were like, ‘Man, you’re so good.’ Hitters on my team were telling me that. Jose Ramirez and Rafael Devers were telling me I had an invisible fastball and they didn’t know what the hell was going on when they were hitting. Hearing that, I was thinking, ‘I’m the man!’ Before that, I wasn’t giving myself enough credit for what I was doing. Hearing that from my All-Star teammates and hearing the same thing from my Yankees teammates ... They were like, ‘Dude, you’re the real deal!’ That gave me extra motivation to have a great second half. I didn’t want to feel like I made it and then have a shitty second half.

Your second half was about as good as the first. If you keep it up, you’ll get a big contract in few years. Have you thought about things you would be able to do for your family and community if you get crazy money someday … $85 million, $100 million, $150 million?

A hundred percent. I don’t want to say that’s already in the works, but I’ve been brainstorming for a long time. Where I went to high school, we don’t have a field. We play at a public park. The obstacle always has been keeping the mound good. We don’t have a clubhouse. We can’t practice whatever time we want. I’d like to get a field for my school. I’d like to have baseball camps there for kids. That would be so good because where I grew up playing, it doesn’t exist anymore.