Cuban Néstor Cortés, born in Cuba, raised and trained in Miami, has been showing his maturity as a pitcher for the New York Yankees.
Cortés is 27 years old and only 5 years ago he stepped onto the Major League stage, specifically in 2018. But it is this 2022 when they have given him the ball from the beginning and he is showing his qualities.
Yesterday he threw 7 innings without hits against the Texas Ranchers, although he had given four walks. In the eighth, with one out, Eli White lined him into right field and that was it. Manager Aaron Boone pulled him after throwing 103 pitches and allowing no runs.
At that moment, the game was at zero and the relief team ended up hitting a whiteout. A hit by Anthony Rizzo drove in the only round in the bottom of the inning and the Yankees won 1-0. Cortes had no decision.
What I mean is that now the Yankees could have another healthy, reliable arm this season in addition to Gerrit Cole. I don’t like the southpaw Jordan Montgomery, Jamesson Taillon is unstable, although he’s a good 4-inning pitcher and Luis Severino must work hard to reconnect with his quality from 2018 when he was 19-8, 3.39 ERA. The Yankees are 20-10 and are the first AL club to reach that figure, an excellent percentage of .714.
THE LEAGUE: By the way, in the American League, in addition to the Yankees, there are other clubs that have been fulfilling expectations well when they have completed the first 30 days of the season.
What are those clubs? Until yesterday, Tampa Bay with 18-11, Toronto with 17-13, Minnesota 18-11, Los Angelinos surprising with a tremendous record of 19-11, Houston with 18-11.
Those who are owed, in the American League, surprisingly the Boston Red Sox, with 10-19, with a resounding drop in everything: in batting, in starting pitching and relief pitching because they don’t even have a closer. This year in such a short time, they already have 8 failures in saves.
Detroit plays “normal” with 8-19, Oakland the same with 10-18 and on those sides there is not much to look for.
It can be said that the surprise team in the AL is, positively, the Angels, inspired by Shohei Ohtani in pitching and hitting and with a healthy Mike Trout. And Boston, of course in the negative. But there is still a long way to go.
MOVEMENTS: In Lidom, infielder Erick Mejía moved to the Eastern Stars in exchange for catcher Francisco Mejía. Mejía is a lineup catcher, now he is second in Tampa Bay, and if he plays here Licey will benefit greatly. But Erick is also a good utility player and if he gives himself up he could work. In MLB, another high school student, Sergio Alcántara, was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Padres, the same team as the injured Fernando Tatis Jr. It is his third team this year since he started with the Cubs, who had also put him on waivers. What happens to the Wonder Boy? The Yankees sent Estevan Florial to triple A who barely used up two at-bats.
OF INTEREST: The MLB announces that it will host regular season games for the next three years in London. And in the Dominican, for when? This is a serious matter, but it has an economic background, since a strong investment from the government is necessary in a new stadium. Here they give “cloth with paste” to the stadiums, but they are not enough.