Aaron Judge isn’t the only key Yankee that could be on his way to the IL following testing on Monday.
Nestor Cortes could be joining the Yankee slugger on the shelf after reporting shoulder soreness on Saturday, and the lefty will also be going into the tube for imaging on Monday as the Yankees return from a successful west coast trip.
“I’m not really concerned,” Cortes said. “Just a lot of soreness. I haven’t been able to bounce back the way I wanted to in between starts. Hopefully everything comes back clean with the MRI tomorrow and we can just get ahead of it and get better.”
Cortes told reporters the soreness he typically feels the day after a start had begun to bleed into the days after, noticeably limiting his ability to work in between starts.
“It’s been harder and harder to recover in between starts, and finally said something [Saturday],” Cortes said. “In this case, the second and third day, didn’t feel like I was really recovering and feeling less sore. I was feeling the same soreness as the day after.
“I’m not too worried. I think it’s more of an inflammation, but we have to go in there and see what the images say. But I don’t feel worried at all.”
Cortes, an All-Star last season, has been struggling late in starts in 2023, now holding a 5.16 ERA for the year. He was looking strong in his last start against the Mariners, but faltered at the end of his outing, though he doesn’t believe his shoulder soreness has played a part in that trend.
“I don’t think so,” Cortes said. “This is more of getting prepared in between starts, where I feel like I can’t do what I want to do in between to work on stuff or get better. In the game, when I’m pitching, it doesn’t hurt. I don’t feel sore. It’s just the next few days where it’s harder and harder to recover from a start.”
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