Nestor Cortés Jr. is a Cuban-American Major League Baseball pitcher who now pitches for the New York Yankees. He has played for the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners in Major League Baseball.
Cortés was born in the Cuban town of Surgidero de Batabanó. His father won the visa lottery when he was seven months old, and the family moved to Hialeah, Florida, in the United States.
Cortés began playing baseball when he was four years old and went on to Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Florida. He is committed to play baseball for Florida International University in college.
He was drafted in the 36th round of the 2013 MLB draft by the New York Yankees.
He signed with the Gulf Coast Yankees of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and made his professional debut that year, with a 0–1 record with a 4.42 earned run average (ERA) in 18+13 innings pitched.
In 2014, he returned to the club, going 12–2 with a 2.27 ERA in 11 games (two starts). Cortés pitched in 12 games for the Pulaski Yankees of the Rookie-level Appalachian League in 2015, posting a 6–3 record with a 2.26 ERA (ten starts).
He pitched in 21 games for the Charleston RiverDogs of the Class A South Atlantic League, Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, Trenton Thunder of the Class AA Eastern League, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Class AAA International League in 2016, posting a combined 11–4 record with a 1.53 ERA (12 starts).
Cortés went 7–4 with a 2.06 ERA in 30 games with Tampa, Trenton, and the RailRiders in 2017.
Who Are Nestor Cortes Parents?
Nestor Cortes’s parent’s names are not known but according to reports Cortes’ family moved to the United States from Surgidero de Batabanó, Cuba, when he was 7 months old after his father won a visa lottery. In Hialeah, Florida, his father worked as a forklift driver, and his mother as a manicurist.