BALTIMORE — New York Yankees left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes said he deactivated his Twitter account after screenshots of decade-old tweets that included racial slurs surfaced Sunday.
Cortes appeared to be quoting rap lyrics in at least some of the tweets, and did not appear to be using the words to directly demean anyone.
“I felt like it wasn’t the right message that I wanted to send when I was 17 years old,” Cortes said before Monday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles. “That was 10 years ago. I deactivated my Twitter to clean things up.
“It’s not acceptable,” he added. “I think I could have handled myself and said things differently. But I’m here today to say I’m going to work on it and fix it.”
Cortes, 27, has been one of the best pitchers in the majors this season, posting a 1.35 ERA after seven starts.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.