New York Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes has been a pleasant surprise for the club so far in 2022. However, Cortes was the subject of an unpleasant surprise on Sunday following another brilliant start, as he deactivated his Twitter account after old tweets containing racial slurs resurfaced in screenshots. The Yankees left-hander issued a statement amid the Twitter controversy, as reported by ESPN.
“I felt like it wasn't the right message that I wanted to send out, when I was 17 years old,” Cortes said before Monday's game against Baltimore. “Those happened 10 years ago. I deactivated my Twitter to clean stuff up.
“It's not acceptable,” he added. “I think I could have managed myself and said stuff differently. But I'm here today to say that I'm going to work on it and fix it.”
Cortes said that it wasn't the “right message to send out” speaking about the tweets that were from his account when he was 17 years old. To be fair to the Yankees starter, his Twitter account appeared to be quoting rap lyrics in some of the tweets, though it's still not a good look.
Cortes seems committed to doing better in the future, which is certainly the right approach. The southpaw has been an early American League Cy Young award favorite, as he owns a microscopic 1.35 ERA with a 49:11 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 40 innings pitched.
After issuing a statement, Cortes and the Yankees will be looking to put this Twitter controversy in the rearview mirror.
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