OAKLAND, Calif. — Nestor Cortes is nearing a return to the mound, with increasing confidence that a cortisone injection will be enough to cure his ailing shoulder.
The Yankees left-hander is set to throw a bullpen session on Friday or Saturday in St. Louis, he said, which will be his first since being shut down with a rotator cuff strain in the first week of June.
“Everything feels really good,” Cortes said Tuesday after a light day of throwing at Oakland Coliseum. “I feel like I’ve about turned the corner from feeling like ‘Ehh’ to now feeling great.”
Cortes has stretched out to throwing from 105 feet and will continue to build up this week before getting on the mound.
If Cortes continues to progress as hoped, he could be in line to return to the Yankees by mid-to-late July.
“I think once I took the cortisone shot [on June 6], I had to wait a few days to throw,” Cortes said before the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to the A’s. “The first day I threw [on June 18], I was kind of scared of, ‘Is it still going to hurt? Is it not going to hurt? How’s it going to feel?’ Then I had an off day the next day and I was like, ‘Oh, my arm’s not sore at all.’ Obviously I didn’t make tremendous throws and the volume wasn’t that great. After I started the two-day, back-to-back throwing, it felt a lot better.”
Cortes will likely need multiple bullpen sessions before advancing to facing live hitters and then a rehab assignment.
But he believes he is on the right track.
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“It’s obviously a process and you gotta [build] to your pitch count, which I’m totally fine with,” Cortes said. “I’d rather wait maybe a couple more days or a week [to make sure I’m ready], just to finish off the season strong.”
Carlos Rodon is set to make his third and likely final rehab start on Saturday with an affiliate to be determined.
If that outing goes according to plan — building to a pitch count around 60 — the left-hander could be in line to make his Yankees debut on July 7 in The Bronx against the Cubs.
With the All-Star break coming up the following week, the Yankees are considering having him start the first game of the second half as well.
Ian Hamilton is expected to be activated off the injured list on Wednesday after recovering from a groin strain that he suffered in mid-May.
The Yankees could open a roster spot by optioning Jhony Brito after his start on Tuesday, then filling his rotation spot on Sunday with Randy Vasquez before Rodon makes his expected return the next time through.
Oswald Peraza has not played at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre since June 18 because of what Aaron Boone said was an abdominal injury.
“It seemed to be minor enough that it was just a day-to-day thing,” Boone said. “Hopefully he’s back in there [Wednesday].”
