Yankees call up David Hale, option Nestor Cortes Jr.

The Yankees announced a roster move prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Orioles. The team added right-handed pitcher David Hale to the roster, and as a corresponding move, optioned Nestor Cortes Jr. to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. To clear space on the 40-man roster, the club shifted Miguel Andujar to the 60-day injured list.

Hale, 31, signed with the Yankees as a minor league free agent in late January. As a starter for the Triple-A RailRiders, the right-hander owns a 4.11 ERA (3.89 FIP) with an 8.51 K/9 rate.

You may remember Hale as he had a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 2018. He made three appearances with New York and one for Minnesota last year, pitching to a 4.61 ERA (6.16 FIP) over 13.2 big-league innings. He also spent some time pitching for Triple-A Scranton before latching on to the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO League.

During an interview with Conor Foley, Hale explained why he chose to return to the Yankees:

“They treated me — It might not seem that way with DFA’s and all that stuff, but that’s just the situation I’m in —they treated me well, they were honest with me,” he said. “I’m comfortable here. I love the fact that it’s just win. Winning is their thing. I haven’t returned to a team since 2016 (with the Colorado Rockies), so it’s nice to be able to know the people, know the players, kind of know where you’re at and then just work from there. Just let it boil down to working instead of worrying about the extra curricular stuff.”

Cortes Jr., meanwhile, has appeared in two games (six innings) for the Yankees this season. He allowed three runs in each of his outings. The left-hander worked mainly as a starter for Triple-A Scranton, pitching to a 4.54 ERA (3.84 FIP) over 33.2 innings.