The New York Yankees have been keeping a close watch on Nestor Cortes Jr. as of late. Cortes pulled his name out of Team USA’s roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain. He suffered the injury earlier this month while running sprints near his home in Miami, Florida.

Cortes was initially expected to be sidelined for at least one week, but he went on to complete a 22-pitch bullpen session last Friday. He was then cleared to feature in live action on Thursday, as he simulated one inning. The one-time All-Star was able to strike out veteran Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo during his time on the mound.

Cortes noted after his first session against live batters that he came away from it with no setbacks with his hamstring injury.

“Actually, it was a lot better than I thought it would be,” Cortes said.

“Just because it was my first live (session), I didn’t know how the leg was going to react with the intensity and facing those guys. So, I thought it was a lot better than I expected.”

Cortes is currently on track to be ready for the opening week of the Yankees’ 2023 regular season schedule, which comes a week after manager Aaron Boone downplayed the severity of the lefty’s injury.

“I do think it’s minor enough,” Boone said on Feb. 15. “He’s been able to kind of keep it going. He’s doing running and working out, keeping his arm going. There’s a chance he could be on the mound by this weekend.

“Not too concerned that it’s a long-term thing. I would expect him to be ready to go at the start of things. I think he will be pitching for us down here, it’s just a matter of how much volume he could build up to.”

Cortes is coming off of a 2022 campaign where he posted career highs across the board, from innings pitched (158.1) to strikeouts (163). He also led all starting pitchers on the team in ERA (2.44) en route to finishing in eighth place in the voting for the 2022 American League Cy Young Award.