Former MLB pitcher and longtime broadcaster Jim Kaat turned heads on Thursday with an inexplicable remark about Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes.
Kaat, doing color commentary for a Twins-Tigers afternoon game in Detroit, was praising Cortes' emergence and bizarrely referred to the left-hander as "Nestor the Molester."
"Nestor the Molester, Nestor Cortes," Kaat said. "Angles and different speeds. He's a pitcher. Man, he's fun to watch."
A Twins official said after the game that Kaat "meant no ill will."
“Obviously, we take these matters seriously and like in all cases will handle this internally and privately,” said Twins spokesman Dustin Morse.
Kaat was planning to contact Cortes directly and speak with the pitcher about the situation, the Associated Press reported.
Cortes, for his part, said he heard about Kaat's remark but didn't give it much thought.
“I’m sure, you know, he didn’t really mean it, and people make mistakes, but it didn’t offend me at all,” Cortes told The AP after the Yankees' doubleheader against the Angels in New York.
“So, you know, I don’t really have anything more than just that, honestly,” he said.
While Kaat seems to have his own strange nickname for Cortes, the emergent southpaw more commonly goes by "Nasty Nestor." He even has it tattooed on his wrist.
The Cortes episode comes just months after Kaat apologized following a cringe-worthy on-air remark about White Sox infielder Yoan Moncada.
The 83-year-old former Twins pitcher and Yankees broadcaster said during an MLB Network telecast of a White Sox playoff game that teams should want a "40-acre field" full of players who look like Moncada.
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