Pressure is on Nestor Cortes after Brewers’ pitching depth takes repeated hits

The 2025 version of the Milwaukee Brewers have a lot of pressure on their shoulders as they look to put an NL Central-winning roster together for the third straight year. Taking the division in the upcoming season would also give them a first-place finish in four of the past five years, which has never happened in their franchise's history.

After an admittedly quiet offseason, the Brewers entered spring training with a roster that looked an awful lot like the one they fielded for the majority of 2024. The newcomers included Nestor Cortes, Jose Quintana, Tyler Alexander, Caleb Durbin, and non-roster invite Mark Canha, who could easily earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Cortes in particular is going to have a ton of eyes on him as the season gets underway, as the rest of the Brewers' pitching staff is falling apart around him due to the injury bug.

The Brewers desperately need Nestor Cortes to get off to a hot start in 2025

Acquired from the New York Yankees (along with Durbin) in exchange for Devin Williams, Cortes isn't exactly penciled in as the Brewers' staff ace to kick off the year, but he's got some rather large shoes to fill from Williams' departure.

Spring training continues to march on, and it seems that every other day another pitcher on the Brewers goes down with an injury. Brandon Woodruff, Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser, and DL Hall are all already on the shelf, with Gasser being a holdover from last year's Tommy John surgery.

Ashby and Hall are the two newest additions to the shelf for the Brewers, and having them fall off the depth chart puts even more pressure on Cortes. Now that the arms are dropping like flies, somebody has to step up and carry the weight. Why can't it be 2022 All-Star Cortes?

The 30-year-old is coming off of a strong showing on the Yankees where he made 30 starts (and one relief appearance), posting a 3.77 ERA, 3.84 FIP and 109 ERA+ across 174.1 innings - a career-high for him. He also put up 2.6 bWAR, which is the third-highest mark he's had across a seven-year career.

Cortes is on an expiring contract, but the Brewers are crossing their fingers and toes that he can come aboard and become an immediate contributor. He's been known to come with his fair share of inconsistencies and warts over the years, but he's not at all far removed from being one of the more reliable southpaw starts in the league.

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