Nestor Cortes reveals how far he’d go for a ring
What would you sacrifice to win a World Series? New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is willing to give up a year of professional baseball.
The lefty is in the running to make the Yankees’ World Series roster despite missing the first two rounds of the postseason with a left elbow flexor strain. New York placed him on the 15-day injured list on September 25 after three straight lights-out appearances that made him a leading candidate to crack the playoff rotation. Over his last 15.1 innings pitched in the regular season, he allowed only one run on seven hits while striking out 18.
He’s been working his way back ever since and threw live batting practice on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. Meeting with the media after, he indicated that he would risk further injury if it meant helping the Yankees capture their 28th championship.
“We have weighed in the consequences this can lead up to, but if I have a ring and then a year off of baseball, then so be it,” he said, according to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo.
Cortes was initially an option to replace Ian Hamilton on the Championship Series roster after his injury in Game 3, but the Yankees went with reliever Mark Leiter Jr. instead.
“What he had is real enough to not want to skip steps and put him in a bad career position,” manager Aaron Boone said, per MLB.com. “If we get through this, I think he is definitely in play [for a World Series roster spot].”
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