Nestor Cortes

Nestor Cortes

30-Year-Old PitcherSP
Milwaukee Brewers
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Cortes put the shoulder trouble he experienced during the 2023 season behind him in 2024, making 31 appearances (30 starts) while throwing a career-high 174.1 innings. He was pitching his best ball of the season down the stretch with a 1.58 ERA and 38:10 K:BB across 40 frames covering his final seven outings. Injury struck again at that point, this time in the form of a flexor strain. Cortes was able to return as a reliever for the World Series, but health concerns will follow him during the offseason and into spring training, especially since flexor strains can sometimes be a precursor to Tommy John surgery. If the southpaw looks good and healthy during Cactus League play after coming over to the Brewers in the Devin Williams trade, his draft stock will tick up. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#269
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $7.6 million contract with the Brewers in January of 2025.
Makes spring debut
PMilwaukee Brewers
March 10, 2025
Cortes gave up one earned run over 2.2 innings in Sunday's spring game. He allowed four hits, struck out two batters and walked one.
ANALYSIS
Cortes joined the Brewers over the offseason in the trade that sent Devin Williams to the Yankees, and he got into his first game with his new club Sunday. Cortes averaged under a strikeout per inning in 2024, but he posted a respectable 3.77 ERA over a career-best 174.1 regular-season innings, so expect him to occupy a rotation spot when the regular season gets underway.
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Pitching Stats
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2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
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Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-24%
BAA vs LHP
2025
No Stats
2024
 
 
-20%
BAA vs LHP
2023
 
 
-38%
BAA vs LHP
BAA Batters K BB H 2B 3B HR
Since 2023vs Left .195 198 56 11 36 6 0 4
Since 2023vs Right .258 777 173 48 185 53 0 31
2025vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Left .204 153 42 9 29 5 0 2
2024vs Right .256 557 120 30 133 39 0 22
2023vs Left .163 45 14 2 7 1 0 2
2023vs Right .261 220 53 18 52 14 0 9
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Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2023
 
 
-25%
ERA at Home
2025
No Stats
2024
 
 
-30%
ERA at Home
2023
 
 
-17%
ERA at Home
ERA WHIP IP W L SV K/9 BB/9 HR/9
Since 2023Home 3.54 1.06 127.0 7 5 0 8.5 1.6 1.3
Since 2023Away 4.72 1.32 110.2 7 7 0 8.9 2.9 1.4
2025Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Home 3.11 1.00 89.2 5 5 0 8.3 1.4 1.2
2024Away 4.46 1.31 84.2 4 5 0 8.4 2.7 1.3
2023Home 4.58 1.18 37.1 2 0 0 8.9 2.2 1.4
2023Away 5.54 1.35 26.0 3 2 0 10.4 3.8 1.7
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
The crafty lefty cemented his spot in the Yankees' starting rotation in 2022 with a 2.44 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 163:38 K:BB across 158.1 innings, but he made just 12 starts in 2023 due to a rotator cuff strain. Cortes also struggled when available last season and finished with a 4.97 ERA over 63.1 innings to go along with a 1.6 HR/9 and a career-worst 40.1 percent hard-hit rate. A 3.71 xERA indicates some unfortunate results, while a 4.84 xFIP paints a less favorable underlying picture. Cortes' reliance on different arm angles and deliveries leaves less margin for error on his pitches, especially since his stuff doesn't really stand out. It also makes him more difficult to evaluate, as the numbers themselves tell less of a story than with most pitchers. A positive regression seems likely in 2024, but Cortes' lack of year-to-year track record leaves some risk coming off a poor campaign.
If you go back and look at Cortes's 2022 outlook, you can see he teased at what was possible, but without a large body of work, everyone was right to be skeptical of what Cortes would be as a starter. Those who took the chance in the late rounds were greatly rewarded by one of the best late round steals in 2022 as the lefty picked up where he left off in 2021 for most of the 2022 season. Cortes uses varying arm angles, deliveries, and pitches to frustrate hitters all season. 75% of what he threw were four-seamer and cutters, and those two pitches were paired so well that the league hit below .200 against both pitches while all five of his offerings had whiff rates above 20%. In 330 innings of work, he has a career 80% LOB rate and a .266 BABIP, so his 2022 numbers ( 79%, .243) are not terribly out of line and a continuation of what he did in 2021. The stuff is not paritcularly special, but his ability to spin and sequence it is certainly special and being a lefty in Yankee Stadium doesn't hurt either. The big question is if he can put up consecutive seasons of workload as he has never done so.
Cortes, when not running around Mushroom Kingdom attempting to avoid Bowser, enjoyed a surprising season for the Yankees. It was his second stint with the club, but this time he worked as a bandaid in the rotation rather than in low-leverage situations. He used a variety of arm angles, timing mechanisms and pitches making the most of his below-average stuff to effectively disrupt the timing of the opposing hitters. He is a throwback to the pitching of 30 years ago when guys relied on location and guile rather than velocity; somehow the league hit .196 off his fastball (.189 xBA!) when the pitch averaged 90.7 mph. Pitching where he does, and in the division he does, leaves Cortes with a thin margin for error, and he's been susceptible to the long ball throughout his career (2.0 HR/9 career rate). Cortes is really only rosterable if he were to secure a starting rotation spot in spring training.
More Fantasy News
Avoids arbitration with new club
PMilwaukee Brewers
January 9, 2025
The Brewers and Cortes avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $7.6 million contract Thursday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Elbow fully healed
PMilwaukee Brewers
December 13, 2024
Brewers general manager Matt Arnold said Friday that Cortes has had a "fully healthy offseason" after dealing with a flexor strain in his left elbow down the stretch of this past season, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Traded to Milwaukee
PMilwaukee Brewers
December 13, 2024
The Brewers acquired Cortes, Caleb Durbin and cash considerations from the Yankees on Friday in exchange for Devin Williams, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Included on World Series roster
PNew York Yankees
October 25, 2024
Cortes (elbow) was added to the Yankees' World Series roster Friday.
ANALYSIS
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Trending toward World Series roster
PNew York Yankees
Elbow
October 21, 2024
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday that there's a "good chance" Cortes (elbow) will be on the team's World Series roster, Greg Joyce of the New York Post reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Being dangled in trade talks
PNew York Yankees
July 29, 2024
Cortes' name is "definitely out there" in trade talks, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
ANALYSIS
Cortes was mentioned previously as a potential target for the Cardinals in a deal that would send Tommy Edman to the Yankees. While Heyman wasn't able to confirm that connection, it does appear the Yankees are willing to trade the left-hander. Cortes has faltered of late in allowing 15 runs over his last three starts, but he's had a solid 2024 season on the whole in posting a 4.13 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 116:26 K:BB in 124.1 innings covering 22 starts. The 29-year-old is making $3.95 million this season and has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining.
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