Nestor Cortes has been an ace for the New York Yankees this season, and his unpredictability is part of the reason why.
Cortes enjoys toying with hitters by sometimes using different pitching motions in his windup prior to delivery. One particular windup he did on a 0-2 pitch to Ryan Mountcastle in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 8-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday drew attention.
Take a look at what Cortes did:
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1576289007738433536
On this overlay created by the Pitching Ninja, you can see how the extended motion differed from Cortes’ usual motion.
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1576309339823841281
Points to Cortes for his creativity.
The 27-year-old put together his best start of the season. He went 7.1 innings allowing one hit and two walks while striking out 12. Cortes is 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA this year.
