There is a bright side to all the Yankees’ injuries. It has created opportunity long-shot minor leaguers wouldn’t have had, providing dream-come-true scenarios. Nestor Cortes is the latest such story, the Yankees’ 36th-round pick in 2013. The 24-year-old left-hander from Cuba who grew up in Miami figured he blew his shot last year after getting picked up by the Orioles in the 2017 Rule 5 draft. He made it through spring training and earned a spot on the roster, only to fall flat in the regular season. In four outings, he pitched to a 7.71 ERA. He was returned to the Yankees. “I thought it would never come again, honestly, just because, you know, the way it went down last year and stuff like that,” he said, according to The Times-Tribune, after getting promoted Wednesday night. “But I found my way back and I’m so happy right now. I can’t describe by feelings right now.” Though he is only 1-2 with a 4.54 ERA at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, he is coming off an impressive performance. On Saturday, he tossed 7 1/3 no-hit innings and struck out nine. Cortes comes without the heat so many Yankees pitchers carry. Cortes, though, fools hitters with a variety of throwing angles, and is now is in The Bronx, back in the major leagues. This is how he wanted it. “(It’s) 100-percent sweeter [with the Yankees],” Cortes told the paper. “It’s the team I got drafted by. It’s the team everybody wishes to be in New York with, so yeah, it’s definitely a lot sweeter and a lot better.”<doc-sep>The Yankees have announced that they’ve added left-hander Nestor Cortes to the 25-man roster. They optioned right-hander Jake Barrett following last night’s loss to the Mariners. In order to make room for Cortes on the 40-man roster, the Yankees moved Dellin Betances to the 60-day IL. Cortes’ promotion gives the Yankees a fresh arm after a relatively short start from Jonathan Loaisiga yesterday. Barrett’s performance in relief of Loaisiga certainly didn’t help his chances of staying on the roster, as he let the game get away in the final innings, allowing five runs across two frames. Barrett never really got a chance to settle in in the bigs, yielding six runs across 3.2 innings. This isn’t actually Cortes’ first stint in the majors. He was selected by the Orioles in the Rule-5 Draft prior to last season, and tossed 4.2 innings with Baltimore. He was returned to New York after allowing ten hits and four runs. Cortes minor-league track record looks more impressive. He has maintained a career 2.64 ERA across 473 innings in the minors. He spent almost all of 2018 in Triple-A, posting a 3.71 ERA and 96 strikeouts against 37 walks in 111.2 innings. He’s upped his strikeout rate this year, striking out 34 batters in 33.2 innings at Triple-A in 2019, albeit with a 4.54 ERA. In any event, Cortes provides Aaron Boone another option from the left side in relief. We’ll see how long the Yankees run with Cortes in the Bronx, and whether Chad Green will be the next reliever brought up from the minors.<doc-sep>​Following Wednesday's extended slopfest against the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees had a significant need for an extra innings-eating bullpen arm. After a bit of roster shuffling, we can officially say: welcome to the big leagues, Nestor Cortes Jr.! Roster Moves: The Yankees have signed LHP Nestor Cortes, Jr. to a Major League contract and selected him to the 25-man roster. To make room for Cortes on the 40-man roster, RHP Dellin Betances was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. — Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) May 9, 2019 ​​In order to wiggle him onto the 40-man roster, ​Dellin Betances hits the 60-Day IL, retroactive to when he first got relegated to the ranks of the injured (Opening Day). With Betances officially off the sham "10-Day," the Yanks don't have too many easy roster moves to open 40-man spots left on the table moving forward. Cortes Jr. was elated to reach the bigs with the Yanks, of course, after briefly making a major league cameo in ​2018 for the Orioles, the team that stole him from the NYY in the Rule 5 draft last winter. Nestor Cortes Jr. is going up to New York. There are a lot of excited teammates here. — Conor Foley (@RailRidersTT) May 9, 2019 ​​In four innings with the O's, Cortes Jr. allowed 10 hits. Cortes Jr. is a prototypical soft-tosser who's been crafty enough to get outs at the upper levels thus far. A 2.64 career minor league ERA for the 24-year-old speaks volumes; despite a lack of impact "stuff," he simply gets outs. We're excited for him to get at least a short stay with the team that initially drafted him.<doc-sep>
May 9: The Yankees announced that Cortes has indeed been added to the Major League roster. In order to open space on the 40-man roster, right-hander Dellin Betances was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Betances has already been on the injured list for 44 days, so transferring him to the 60-day injured list at this point is largely a formality. May 8, 9:52pm: Right-hander Jake Barrett has been optioned to Triple-A, the Yankees announced following tonight’s loss. The team will still need to make a 40-man move to accommodate Cortes. 9:34pm: The Yankees will select the contract of left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, reports Conor Foley of the Scranton Tribune-Times (via Twitter). The team has yet to formally announce the move, though Foley suggests that Cortes and his teammates were already informed of the move. A corresponding 40-man roster move will need to be made. It’ll be the Yankees debut for Cortes, 24, though it won’t be his Major League debut. The Orioles selected him in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft and carried him on the big league roster for the season’s first couple of weeks before returning him to the Yankees. He tossed 4 2/3 innings in Baltimore and allowed four runs in that brief cup of coffee. Since returning to the Yankees organization last season, the 5’11”, 205-pound Cortes has pitched to a 3.90 ERA with 130 strikeouts against 48 walks and a 35.5 percent ground-ball rate in 145 1/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level. Cortes won’t start for the Yankees tomorrow — that outing will go to J.A. Happ — but he’ll give the Yankees a fresh arm on the heels of a game in which the bullpen needed to cover five innings of work.