You might not miss 2021 New York Yankees baseball, but you’re definitely feeling some sort of way during the MLB lockout. We were supposed to be treated to the endless rumors coming out of the Winter Meetings this week. Instead, we have extended silence after just one (1) Yankees transaction (Joely Rodriguez).
You might want to erase the last couple years from your memory, but come on! There were some good times and positive moments to reflect on. Every piece of content can’t be of the doomsday variety.
That’s why we’re coming to you with an update on Nestor Cortes, who’s beloved by just about every Yankees fan. Simply can’t dislike the guy. Not after he helped serve as one of the few bright spots during another disappointing campaign that fell well short of expectations.
We don’t know what to expect from the crafty lefty in 2022, solely because he just achieved a career high in innings pitched with only 93 total frames … but he proved he can be a valuable asset moving forward.
And it seems he’s already chasing the high that 2021 brought for him. On Wednesday, he posted a clip of himself on Twitter striking out an Orioles batter, which elicited a collective roar from the folks at Yankee Stadium.
Cortes misses baseball, and it’s clear the current state of the league might be affecting his emotions. We miss baseball too … well, at least only highlights of this variety. We’ll take the greatest hits in a compilation and ignore the bad stuff, if you don’t mind.
https://twitter.com/Cortes_1210/status/1468651925222662147?s=20
Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. is missing striking out batters.
Cortes endeared himself to the Bronx faithful with his performance in 2021, which featured a 2.90 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 22 games (14 starts) with 103 strikeouts. Don’t forget he’s two years removed from a terrible 5.67 ERA and 1.55 WHIP campaign (33 games) with the Bombers that saw him get exiled to Seattle before his eventual return.
With his renewed performance came a larger-than-life personality. Cortes trolled an umpire during a game and called out another on Twitter after the difficult-to-watch Dodgers-Giants NLDS ending. This is the stuff we want, baby!
Please, more of that instead of cryptocurrency, Nestor.
https://twitter.com/Cortes_1210/status/1453444743120232452?s=20
What a bummer for Cortes that his coming out party was preceded by a labor dispute that we’ve now seen coming for years. We can only imagine how it feels.
But here’s to more Nasty Nestor in 2022 … because Yankees fans know they can at least have fun with that if everything else comes crashing down.
Yankees: Nestor Cortes trolls umpires after Aaron Boone ejection
New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. trolled Saturday's umpires on the mound after manager Aaron Boone was ejected.