J.C. Escarra’s winding path by skilled baseball included a detour to gig work as a ride-share driver.
When it was time to go from his midtown Manhattan resort to Yankee Stadium on Thursday for his attainable main league debut, the 29-year-old catcher and infielder referred to as for a automotive.
“It was pretty cool. Got down there and there was an Uber Black luxury waiting for me. Felt pretty special,” he mentioned. “I’ve never taken an Uber to Yankee Stadium, so it was cool to see the views, the bridge, Yankee Stadium from afar.”
Two years in the past, he was out of baseball and now he was carrying No. 25 for the defending AL champion New York Yankees.
“There was a time in my life that I thought I wasn’t going to be playing baseball no more. So to wake up this morning as a Major League Baseball player, especially for for the New York Yankees, it means the world to me,” he mentioned.
Escarra grew up within the Miami space and since he was 4 years outdated performed in youth ball with and in opposition to Nestor Cortes, the previous Yankees and present Brewers pitcher.
A Seventeenth-round draft decide by Baltimore in 2017 who signed for a $125,000 bonus, Escarra rose to Triple-A by 2021 however was lower free on the finish of spring coaching in 2022.
He performed impartial ball with the American Affiliation’s Kansas Metropolis Monarchs and winter ball in Puerto Rico with Leones de Ponce. He bought married that October and wanted to determine the right way to make some cash.
Escarra gave about 10 rides as an Uber driver along with his leased Lexus and spent January to April 2023 in its place trainer at Doral Academy Preparatory Faculty, taking on highschool lessons in artwork, music and bodily schooling.
“My favorite was P.E. because I got to be outside, shoot around and watch the guys practice baseball,” he mentioned. “For example I’ve a late interval, like seventh interval — class finally ends up at 3:30, the baseball staff was already working towards.”
That staff included Adrian Santana, a shortstop who can be chosen by Tampa Bay with the thirty first total decide within the 2023 newbie draft.
“It was full of scouts coming to watch him, and since I was there already I would go one by one: `Hey, if you need a left-handed hitting catcher, I’m your guy,'” he said. “None of those guys ended up signing me.”
He began 2023 with one other impartial staff, Gastonia within the Atlantic League, and was bought that June to Mexico’s Toros de Tijuana and traded in July to Algodoneros de Unión Laguna. The Yankees signed him to a minor league contract in January 2024, he began at Double-A Somerset and completed at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Escarra hit .302 with three homers and eight RBIs in 19 spring coaching video games this yr. Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone referred to as him into his Steinbrenner Discipline workplace on Saturday.
“This is difficult to have to do, because I know you put yourself in a really good position and you’ve done everything that we could have been expected,” Boone said softly during a meeting the Yankees recorded. “You’ve gotten better as a catcher, you rake and you came in here and showed it. But, as you know, we have a lot of catching depth, as you know, so that’s what makes this hard.”
Boone paused, then checked out Escarra and mentioned: “Nah, you’re going to the big leagues.”
He walked into the lavish clubhouse for the primary time Thursday and mentioned “I was floating on a cloud.”
Whereas most gamers ask for suggestions forward of their debut, Escarra gave one — to his driver.
“Yeah, of course,” he mentioned with a smile.
