MIAMI, United States. — The Cuban pitcher Néstor Cortés Jr. will represent the United States team in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, according to reports this Tuesday in different media outlets.
The announcement comes days after rumors circulated on social networks and in the press about the possibility that the 27-year-old left-hander would represent his native country in the baseball event.
“Néstor Cortés will pitch for the Stars and Stripes team in the greatest international baseball event to try to defend the title achieved in the previous version and in a show of clear gratitude to the land that opened the doors to his family” , noted the newspaper The New Herald.
The journalist and writer Francys Romero also echoed the call of Néstor Cortés by the US team.
“The left-handed pitcher for the Yankees will seek to represent the United States in the World Baseball Classic. There may have been some possibility that Cortés would go with Cuba, but the 27-year-old pitcher opted to represent the United States,” the reporter said in social networks.
Born on December 10, 1994 in Surgidero de Batabanó, former Havana province, Néstor Cortés came to the United States when he was barely seven years old because his father won the visa lottery in Cuba.
In addition to the New York Yankees, he has also represented the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners during his major league career. He has also dabbled with the Estrellas Orientales in winter baseball in the Dominican Republic.
The IV World Baseball Classic will have the participation of 20 teams and will take place from March 8 to 21, 2023. The initial venues of the contest will be the stadiums Tokyo Dome (Tokyo, Japan), Marlins Park (Miami/United States), Chase Field (Arizona/United States), Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (Taiwan).
