San Diego Padres pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. will be out of action for the next nine to ten months following successful surgery to repair a torn tendon in his throwing arm, the southpaw announced via social media.
Cortes, nicknamed “Nasty Nestor” and “the Hialeah Kid,” will become a free agent at the end of the 2025 season. He is now likely to resume baseball activities around the All-Star break in 2026. Even if recovery proceeds smoothly, the 30-year-old would require extensive bullpen sessions and batting practice before starting a minor league rehab assignment, pushing any potential MLB return to late August or as a reliever toward the end of the season. Teams interested in signing him are likely to view him primarily as a 2027-season option.
Cortes was out of sync on the mound throughout the year. Then, after the New York Yankees traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers in the deal involving Devin Williams and Caleb Durbin, he allowed five home runs to his former team in his debut for Milwaukee, marking a historically poor start. However, the 2022 All-Star followed that performance with six shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds, only to land on the injured list with a flexor strain, which was his second flexor injury in consecutive years.
After a brief rehab assignment, the Brewers traded Cortes to the Padres for fifth outfielder Brandon Lockridge. With San Diego, he made six starts, posting a 5.47 ERA over 26 1/3 innings. He completed six innings just once, with strikeout and walk rates below league average, before being shut down in early September due to a biceps strain.
His fastball averaged 90.1 MPH, down from previous seasons, yielding a .351 batting average and nine home runs over 57 at-bats against the pitch. A glance at his record shows Cortes as a reliable starter, posting sub-4.00 ERAs in three of four seasons from 2021–2024. He finished eighth in the 2022 Cy Young voting.
Cortes' repertoire includes a four-seam fastball averaging 91 MPH, along with a cutter, slider, changeup, and curveball. Renowned for his deceptive delivery and varied timing, he has historically leveraged trickery and movement to offset his smaller frame.
