Nestor Cortes is famous for his quirky, ever-changing delivery on the mound, part of what makes the 2022 All-Star so appealing. The lefty is seen as a throwback, using mind games on the bump and pinpoint location to make up for a lack of velocity.
Cortes’ mind games reached levels of hilarity in New York’s final preseason game on Tuesday.
Stopping in Washington for a final spring training tune-up with the Nationals at Nationals Park, Cortes broke out a quick pitch against Jeimer Candelario, rushing through his windup and firing a pitch while Candelario was in the box, but hadn’t yet looked up towards the mound. Candelario was still able to quickly look up and weakly foul the pitch off, but Cortes was called for the quick pitch, as the home plate umpire signaled that the hitter had not yet made eye contact with the pitcher.
So, what was Cortes’ response? His next pitch took a long, long time to get to the mound, as Cortes held his pose after lifting his front leg for several seconds before finally coming to the plate with a 93 mph fastball that was also weakly fouled off.
Cortes and Candelario shared a smile after the funny sequence, one that other hitters like Shohei Ohtani became familiar with when facing Cortes last season.
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