It seems like the New York Yankees could have one of their most important pieces back performing at a high level this season.

Outside of Gerrit Cole, the rest of the New York Yankees rotation last year was a complete mess.

For a team with championship aspirations, the starting unit was not good enough.

Their rotation ranked 18th in the league with a 4.44 ERA, which included the AL-low 2.63 ERA put up by Cole.

It’s one of the reasons why the Yankees’ front office aggressively pursued starting pitching this offseason, signing Marcus Stroman and searching for blockbuster trades and other additions to fortify this unit.

While more help could be coming before the start of 2024, New York will also need their current members to return to form.

It seems like Nestor Cortes could be on his way to doing that after a huge day at Spring Training.

According to Andy Martino of SNY, he struck out their new addition Juan Soto three times during live batting practice.

That’s a great sign for the Yankees.

Cortes was a revelation for them when he moved into the starting rotation full-time in 2022, earning an All-Star selection and finishing the year with a 2.44 ERA across 28 starts.

However, he didn’t perform at the same level to start 2023 after recording an ERA of 5.16 through his first 11 starts.

He was diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain in his throwing shoulder on June 8 and was transferred to the 60-day injured list a month later, only returning to throw in one more start before ending up on the IL again.

Cortes is hoping these issues are in the past, and striking out Soto, who is known for his plate discipline after leading the league in walks three times, is a huge step in that process.