Nestor Cortes has been named the Opening Day starter for the New York Yankees against the Houston Astros on March 28th at Minute Maid Park. The announcement comes after it was revealed that Gerrit Cole will be out for 1-2 months due to an elbow injury.
Cortes will become the 15th Cuban-born player to start on Opening Day. He is the first Cuban to start for the Yankees since Orlando Hernandez in 2000 and the team’s first left-handed pitcher to start since CC Sabathia in 2014.
He joins Cuban-born players Livan Hernandez, Camilo Pascual, Luis Tiant Jr, Pedro Ramos, Adolfo Luque, Raisel Iglesias, Jose Fernandez, Mike Cuellar, Connie Marrero, Jose Contreras, Orlando Pena, and Ariel Prieto.
Cortes’ 2023 season ended early due to injury. He finished the season with 12 starts, a 5-2 record, a 4.97 ERA, and 67 strikeouts in 63.1 innings.
As of March 15th 2024, Cortes has pitched in 10 innings across 3 Spring Training games. He has recorded 13 strikeouts, allowing 17 hits, 9 runs, and 2 walks, with an ERA of 8.10.
His last start against the Astros was on August 5th in New York, which was also his final game of the 2023 season. He pitched 4 strong innings, striking out 8 and allowing only one hit and run