Weird Nestor Cortes windups are back, and they’re weirder than ever.
In the second inning of his start Sunday against the Guardians during the Yankees' 8-7 loss in Cleveland, Cortes started to deliver an 0-2 pitch to Andrés Giménez before going into his dipsy-doodle leg kick. The dipsy-doodle move he’s broken out in the past. What was new this time was Cortes then did what we’re going to call a "pitch fake" before actually throwing the ball, which Giménez fouled back.
"Nothing is really planned when I go out there. I just kind of thought of it in the moment," said Cortes, who allowed four runs over four-plus innings. "[It was] kind of funny, but I thought it would work for me. He fouled it off. Just another windup that I do."
Cortes went with a more traditional delivery on his next pitch to Giménez, who put the ball in play and reached on a fielding error.
It will be interesting to see if Cortes busts this move back out the next time he faces Shohei Ohtani.