Yankees' Nestor Cortes on if Aaron Judge stays: 'He's the next captain'
New York Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes (65) during a press conference before game 3 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Oct 22, 2022 Credit: Newsday/William Perlman
Nestor Cortes’ next start comes Sunday night when he takes the mound in Game 4 of the ALCS against the Astros, but like most everybody else around the Yankees these days, part of him already wonders about what will happen with the main event of the looming offseason.
Aaron Judge is about to become a free agent. As the biggest name heading to the open market, he is on the brink of parlaying his declining of the Yankees’ preseason extension offer with his 62-homer year into a giant contract — with the Yankees or someone else.
If Judge stays, Cortes has a strong take on what also should happen.
“If he’s back here next year, he’s our captain,” Cortes said Saturday, adding that Judge has “meant everything” to the team and the organization. “He’s the next captain.”
He added: “We follow everything he does. He leads by example. He’s not really a guy that comes out and screams at anybody. But if he has to, that’s his job. I think he’s earned that right to keep us in check. What allows him to be so great, I feel like, is he’s a great baseball player, but he’s a better human. He treats everybody the same. He follows up on everybody every day. That’s what allows him to be who he is.”
In the annals of Yankees history, being named captain is the greatest of honors. Only 13 players have held that title, from Clark Griffith (the first-ever in 1903) to Babe Ruth (for five days in May 1922) and Lou Gehrig to Thurman Munson and Willie Randolph to, most recently, Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter.
Those last two are the only captains in Judge’s lifetime. The Yankees haven’t had one since Jeter retired after the 2014 season.
When he was at Yankee Stadium last month, Jeter — asked about the possibility of Judge being his successor — said Judge’s teammates would be able to provide a better answer.
Enter Cortes, who hasn’t expressed such a sentiment directly to Judge — “I’m sure he knows it already,” he said — or manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman.
“This is just me going out on a limb and saying it,” Cortes said.
And he was emphatic in saying it publicly. “Most of the guys in there agree with me. He’s the best to do it,” Cortes said. “Just the way that we play around him and act around him, he’s just the guy for it. I feel like we follow his steps every time . . . We just follow his act. We follow everything he does.
“I think he’s a perfect example for the game of baseball, for the kids that are coming up and learning from the game. Sometimes I ask myself, how does he have so much time to stop for interviews and signatures? But he finds a way. That’s what makes him great.”
As for Cortes, this will be his first start since limiting Cleveland to one run in five innings in Game 5 of the ALDS. Despite the unusual circumstances — short rest going into that game — his arm and body experienced only the usual amount of soreness afterward, Cortes said. And he was able to complete his usual between-starts routine.
Heavy-hitting Houston figures to be a tougher challenge than the Guardians. Cortes gave up three runs in five innings when he faced the Astros in June.
“I acknowledge how big it is, obviously,” Cortes said of Game 4. “I’m up for the challenge.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
