Nestor Cortes’ grip change behind pitching renaissance with Yankees

When discussing the cutter, Mariano Rivera jumps to mind for Yankees fans. From the left side, Andy Pettitte threw a filthy one, too. 

But neither Yankees icon had the honor of teaching Nestor Cortes the pitch that has become his greatest weapon. It was fellow Cuban Odrisamer Despaigne, who pitched for five big league clubs from 2014-19, who instructed Cortes on how to throw a cutter. 

The two were playing catch in the Dominican Winter League in the offseason after Cortes’ difficult 2018 season. He made his major league debut that season with the Orioles, who made him a Rule 5 pick in 2017, but ended the year back in the Yankees’ minor league system after four games in the majors. 

“He basically told me, ‘Hey, grip it like this, offset, and then basically let it rip,’ ” Cortes said before the Yankees hosted the Guardians on Friday night. “And that’s what I did.” 

He noticed the movement, but there was no epiphany that he had stumbled upon a potential game-changer. He kept the pitch in his back pocket, he said, until 2020, when he threw a few. He honed it more last season, when Statcast indicates he threw the pitch about one-quarter of the time. 

Nestor Cortes pitches during the Yankees’ loss to the Orioles on April 17. AP

As he began unveiling the tweaked cutter, his velocity picked up, too. He worked with trainer Eric Cressey and pitching coach Matt Blake, among others, last season and parts of this offseason to shore up his delivery. Cortes said he, “wasn’t good with my hip and shoulder separation.” 

From 2020 to his outstanding 2021 season, which finished with a 2.90 ERA, his four-seam fastball shot up from an average of 88.2 mph to 90.7 mph. He said he feels the velocity increase across his whole repertoire has allowed his cutter to jump into an elite offering. 

His cutter is up to an average of 85.4 mph, but can tick into the upper-80s and often ticks right by hitters’ bats. Among his 12 strikeouts Sunday against the Orioles, eight were punctuated by his cutter. 

Through 9 ¹/₃ innings in two starts, Cortes’ ERA sits at a tidy 0.00. 

“I think the velo spike has really helped me,” said Cortes, who will bring his scoreless-innings streak into the matchup Saturday against the Guardians. “I think I’m better commanding it and have better movement for it.” 

There is a legitimate major league pitcher — who might be growing into a star — behind the mustache and the funk. He stands out because he is thriving with less heat when many pitchers are throwing 10-plus mph faster than he is. 

Cortes messes with timing consistently and alters his delivery to keep hitters guessing. But he also boasts tremendous movement on an arsenal that suddenly is being led by the cutter. On at-bats ending with the cutter, opposing hitters are 2-for-15 (.133) with nine strikeouts. 

He doesn’t mind if fans think of him as a novelty or a starter with legitimate stuff. 

“It’s fun to be the anomaly,” the lefty said. “It’s fun to be out there and [hitters will] be like, ‘Man, how’s this guy blowing it by me at 90 miles per hour?’ 

“If [fans] want to say I’m funky, I’m funky. If they want to say I’m a good pitcher, I’m a good pitcher. I like both.”