Yankees Name Nestor Cortes Their 2024 MLB Opening Day Starter Amid Gerrit Cole Injury

The New York Yankees have their Opening Day starter.

Nestor Cortes will take the mound when the Yankees open the season on March 28 against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.

The news comes as ace Gerrit Cole is dealing with an elbow injury.

Cole has consistently been New York's Opening Day starter since signing a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees ahead of the 2020 campaign.

However, the reigning American League Cy Young winner is expected to be sidelined for one to two months due to his elbow ailment.

Cortes, who has had a rough spring, becomes the first left-handed pitcher to start an Opening Day for the Yankees since CC Sabathia in 2014. He has started three games for the Pinstripes during spring training, allowing nine runs on 17 hits and two walks across 10 innings.

The 29-year-old is coming off a 2023 season in which he posted a 5-2 record, 4.97 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 67 strikeouts in 63.1 innings across 12 starts.

The Yankees will be hoping Cortes can shake off the rust on Opening Day against a tough Astros squad aiming to make the World Series for the third time in the last four seasons.

Cole, meanwhile, is meeting with esteemed sports surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles to further assess his elbow injury, according to Mark W. Sanchez and Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

The 33-year-old's initial scans did not reveal a UCL tear, but ElAttrache recommended that he be seen in person, Sanchez and Heyman added.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Monday that concerns about Cole's elbow arose when he told the team he was experiencing recovery issues and difficulty bouncing back between starts.

Cole pitched two innings and threw 39 pitches on March 1 but hasn't appeared in a spring training game since.

"All of the strength testing they do has been good," Boone said. "His stuff and his command has been really good in his outings. He's just having a hard time getting that fifth or sixth day. He's not recovering like he's accustomed to."

With Cole out of the rotation, the Yankees are expected to rely on a group headlined by Cortes, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman and Clarke Schmidt to open the year.