Nestor Cortes wants Aaron Judge to stay as a Yankee

Monday October 31, 2022

NEW YORK — Nestor Cortes is back with a request to Aaron Judge to stay in New York. The left-handed All-Star pitcher wants No. 99 to play behind him next season and for years to come and apprised how much the Yankees value the power hitter.

According to Cortes, Aaron Judge is a big part of the Yankees and should stay next season and many more seasons to come. He told:

“He’s a big part of this organization. It’s an organization that drafted him. He’s been here for a long time. He carries a lot of weight around here. He’s a superstar. Hopefully — that’s a decision that he has to make and that the ball club has to make. Hopefully he’s back next year and he’s a New York Yankee.”

However, Cortes may have a thought that Aaron Judge could leave. He said, “That question always comes, but I think you should take into account everything he’s done here.”

Aaron Judge is on his way to winning this year’s AL Most Valuable Player award. And the Yankees will be one of several teams that want to give him a lot of money.

Aaron Judge had a record-setting season. He hit 62 home runs, which broke the AL record of 61 set by Yankees great Roger Maris in 1961. He also came close to winning the Triple Crown. He hit .311 and led the league with 131 RBI. Luis Arraez of the Twins (.316) was the only player in the AL with a better batting average than Judge.

Cortes, for his part, said he was happy with his big year. In his first full year in the rotation, he made 28 starts and went 12-4 with an earned run average of 2.88.

“My year was great. Obviously, we didn’t get to where we wanted to go, but on a personal level, I thought it was a pretty good year. Hopefully, I can do that again next year. But as far as the team, I think we wish we could have gone a little bit more.”

His season ended on a bad note, though, when he had to leave Game 4 of the ALCS after just two and a half innings and the Astros hit a three-run homer off of him. Cortes was taken out of the game by manager Aaron Boone because he had hurt his groin.

Cortes said that he hurt the injury while working out with the Yankees before the AL Division Series. He had an MRI but the Yankees haven’t said what happened. Cortes said on Sunday that he didn’t know if he would have had to go on the injury list for the rest of the playoffs if the series had gone on.

Earlier Cortes vouched for Aaron Judge as the next season’s team captain.

Will Aaron Judge be back with the Yankees?