According to a report by Matt Kardos of MiLB.com, Yankees starter Nestor Cortes is anticipated to pitch approximately 60 pitches during his third and final rehab start next week.
During his recent rehab start for Double-A Somerset, Cortes threw a total of 49 pitches, with 36 of them being strikes. He had an impressive performance, striking out five batters while allowing only two hits and one walk in four scoreless innings. The location of his last rehab start is yet to be determined. However, if all goes well, Cortes is expected to rejoin the Yankees rotation either on August 7 or August 8 during an away game against the White Sox.
“He looked really good to me,” Boone said on Saturday. “His next one will probably be in the high 50 to 60 range. I really liked what I saw. I watched his whole outing. Everything looked good; the breaking ball, he actually had a good changeup going, and his fastball, the life was there. The command of the cutter. He was sharp.”
On July 17, Cortes participated in a live batting practice session at Angel Stadium, where he threw around 35 pitches. Before that, the Yankees starter had similar sessions on July 9 at Yankee Stadium and on July 13 in Tampa, Florida.
However, his journey hasn’t been smooth. On June 8, the Yankees placed him on the 15-day injured list, with the placement being retroactive to June 5. The reason behind this move was due to “a lot of soreness” that Cortes experienced in his pitching shoulder between starts.
Cortes mentioned that he had not been able to recover as expected, which hindered his ability to perform between outings. The Yankees starter believes that rushing back from a spring hamstring injury might have contributed to the shoulder issue.
Yankees catcher Trvino undergoes surgery
On Thursday, Jose Trevino took to his personal Twitter account to share the positive news that his wrist surgery was successful.
The surgery was necessary to address a torn ligament in his right wrist, and unfortunately, it means the Yankees catcher will be sidelined for the rest of the 2023 season. However, the optimistic outlook is that he expects to be fully recovered and ready for spring training next year, as reported by Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
The decision for surgery came after Trevino had been playing through the wrist injury since Spring Training. Despite knowing that surgery was inevitable, the Yankees catcher had hoped to tough it out for the entire season. The specific type of injury was a torn TFCC ligament, and the standard recovery time for such a surgery is approximately 12 weeks.
In response to the injury, the Yankees placed Trevino on the 10-day injured list on July 21, with the placement being retroactive to July 18.
Loaisiga to start pitching rehab on Sunday
According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Jonathan Loaisiga is set to start his rehab assignment with Single-A Tampa on Sunday.
Loaisiga had to undergo surgery in May to remove a bone spur from his right elbow. As part of his recovery process, he is expected to make several appearances in the minor leagues before rejoining the Yankees’ bullpen. Prior to his injury, the 28-year-old had only made three appearances, allowing just one run across 3.1 innings.
Loáisiga’s Minor League rehab assignment is scheduled to begin on July 30 with Single-A Tampa. Yankees manager Aaron Boone has outlined that Loaisiga will likely need approximately three or four outings, with one of them being a multi-inning appearance, before he is ready to return.
On July 23, at Yankee Stadium, Loaisiga had a live pitching practice session against Aaron Judge, during which he threw a total of 16 pitches. Judge managed to foul off five of those pitches. Interestingly, Loáisiga revealed that he showcased all four of his pitch types to the slugger during the session.
After the session with Judge, Loáisiga headed to Tampa, Florida, where he participated in another live batting practice on July 26.
Previously, on July 9, Loáisiga took around 10 bullpen pitches at Yankee Stadium, marking the first time he had done so since starting a throwing program on June 12. This throwing program came after he underwent arthroscopic surgery in New York on May 2. The surgery was necessary to remove a bone spur and loose bodies from his pitching elbow, and it was successfully performed by Dr. Christopher Ahmad. The soreness in his right elbow had become evident before a game at Baltimore on April 7.
His return will bolster the Yankees’ bullpen
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