After Sunday, New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is sparking a debate, he is known for his weird windups sometimes swinging his lead leg repeatedly before releasing his pitch.
During Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians, Cortes threw a pump fake against Andre Giminez, then made an actual throwing motion, unlocking the double pump fake.
NEW NESTOR CORTES MOVE UNLOCKED! pic.twitter.com/d90G8iQwAC
— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2024
In the second inning of the Yankees’ 8-7 loss, it was on a 0–2 count, he delivered the pitch and while he paused, did his so-called “dipsy doodle” leg kick, and then appeared to hit a pump fake before finally throwing the ball.
Cortes has sparked the debate on what constitutes a “balk” after using his playful pitching motion, and it seems he found a loophole in the “balk”. A balk per MLB is “an illegal motion on the mound that the umpire deems to be deceitful to the runner(s).”
Yet again, he exploited another loophole that allowed him to use a pump fake during his funky windup and let Gimenez hit the foul ball. It was in the bottom half of the second inning, he took one step and then faked a toss before delivering a 78 MPH pitch in the upper part of the strike zone that was fouled off:
On Sunday, the Yankees lost 8-7 to the Cleveland Guardians, and many are calling pump fakes should not be allowed. The 29-year-old Cortes is coming off an injury-plagued 2023 season that recorded a 4.97 ERA across 12 starts before getting shut down due to a rotator cuff strain.
