Report: Yanks' Cortes (hamstring) to miss WBC
Published
Nestor Cortes Jr. will not be representing the United States at the World Baseball Classic after all.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reports the New York Yankees left-handed pitcher has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and has withdrawn from the tournament.
Cortes, 28, will not throw off of a mound for the next two weeks.
Raised in Hialeah, FL, Cortes was an All-Star in 2022, his fifth big league season and third with the Yankees.
Last season, Cortes went 12-4 with a 2.44 earned run average and 0.922 WHIP over 158.1 innings in 28 starts.
In his second stint with the Yankees, Cortes has also spent time with the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners.
Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette confirms that Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies has taken the spot of Cortes on the Team USA roster.
Team USA opens up its WBC campaign on March 11 with a game against Great Britain.