DataBaseball
2026
Nestor Cortes headshot

Pitcher · 2025

Nestor Cortes

Age
31
B/T
R/L
Height
5' 10"
Weight
225 lb
Number
#65
Born
December 10, 1994 in Surgidero de Batabano, Cuba
MLB debut
March 31, 2018
Drafted
2013, round 36
High school
Hialeah
Salary, 2025
$7.6M
dbWAR
1.0
2 season(s)
IP
34.1
ERA
6.29
FIP
8.29
K/9
7.6
FIP−
199
100 = avg

Nestor Cortes is a starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres. In 2025 he struck out 29 batters over 34.1 innings across 8 appearances, 8 of them starts, going 2-4. His ERA of 6.29 was 51.3% higher than the league average of 4.16 — the worst on his team, and 491st of 542 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 8.29 FIP suggests that his ERA had some help behind him. He missed bats on 25.0% of swings (10.7% of every pitch he threw), walked 12.7% of the batters he faced and struck out 18.5%. His -1.2 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2025.

FIP8.29
K/97.6
WHIP1.63
WAR-1.2

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2025. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
SplitPAABHHRBBSOAVGOBPSLGwOBAK%
vs LHB393514638.400.436.914.54620.5%
vs RHB118992271721.222.347.475.36017.8%

Pitch sequencing

What Nestor Cortes throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter
Four-seamCutterChangeupSweeper

Select a count to see exactly what Nestor Cortes throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, and how often it misses in 2025.

Four-Seam Fastball38.1%22890.12,24845.6%19.4%
Cutter34.6%20786.72,32644.4%21.6%
Changeup13.9%8382.21,33730.1%48.6%
Sweeper13.4%8078.12,52248.8%25.7%
Nestor Cortes's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters.

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.

Trend
20258834.1240362429206.298.291.637.65.2151199-1.2
20243130174.1910016273162393.773.841.158.42.092942.2

Head to head

Put Nestor Cortes beside up to three others.

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Nestor Cortes

Similar players

Nearest 2025 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.