New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes is perhaps best known for his unusual shenanigans on the mound. The 5-foot-11 lefty often uses various hitches and giddy-ups during his windup to throw hitters off of his timing and delivery.
What he did on Sunday should probably be illegal…
Cortes used a literal pump fake against the Cleveland Guardians. Major League Baseball may (and should) move quickly to eliminate the move from the game.
While the novelty of what Cortes does on the bump is rather entertaining and usually works, he also backs it up with nasty stuff. Combining the two makes it very frustrating for opposing batters.
Timing is one thing that he uses to keep hitters uncomfortable. Cortes will occasionally speed things up or slow things way down to create an imbalance in what they expect.
Batters never know what is coming— or, perhaps more importantly, when.
And then there is the creative stuff. Cortes will swing his leg around or vary the height of his kick to mess with the hitter’s head. It can get super weird.
Although it is bizarre and looks like a balk, it’s totally legal. Cortes starts his windup in a legal manner, never stops his motion and continues moving all of the way through his delivery.
Love it or hate it, there is nothing illegal about it and it often works. There is no issue there.
What he did on Sunday is something that has not been seen before. Cortes exploited yet another loophole that allows him to literally use a pump fake during his funky windup.
This particular move might be one step too far. There is no reason that pump fakes should be allowed.
They are currently legal (or maybe better stated as not illegal) so Nestor Cortes did not do anything wrong. However, it would be a good idea for MLB to go ahead and close that loophole before every pitcher in the league starts adding a pump fake to their pitching motions!