{"id":1176,"date":"2025-04-28T21:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T21:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/1176\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T21:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T21:55:12","slug":"j-c-escarra-helps-solidify-fairytale-yankees-story-with-breakout-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/1176\/","title":{"rendered":"J.C. Escarra helps solidify fairytale Yankees story with breakout game"},"content":{"rendered":"

J.C. Escarra\u2019s journey from Uber driver to backup catcher for the Yankees<\/a> got another chapter on Sunday, as he homered for the first time in his major league career in a 5-1 win over Toronto in a doubleheader sweep in The Bronx.<\/p>\n

Escarra took ex-Yankee Chad Green deep to the right field seats with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to give the Yankees a bit more of a cushion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel the ball off the bat,\u2019\u2019 Escarra said. \u201cIt was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.C.J.C. Escarra celebrates his first MLB home run on April 27, 2025. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

And he said there was even more meaning to the blast because he hit it at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special that I did it here at home,\u2019\u2019 Escarra said. \u201cThis is my team, my family\u2019s team. It\u2019s a dream come true, doing everything as a Yankee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escarra was able to trade an autographed bat in exchange for the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you asked me two years ago if I\u2019d be here doing this, I\u2019d tell you you\u2019re lying,\u2019\u2019 Escarra said. \u201cThis is stuff you dream about, but to have it be reality is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while the 29-year-old\u2019s unique background made him an intriguing story during spring training, Escarra will only stick around if he produces.<\/p>\n

So far, he\u2019s delivered on defense, which is what the Yankees expected after watching him in their minor league system a year ago.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s here because he can catch,\u2019\u2019 Aaron Boone said. \u201cHe really earned that reputation in our organization last year. He throws really well, is outstanding with framing [and] seems to have some presence and feel for calling a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escarra helped guide Clarke Schmidt through five innings, giving up just one run, in Schmidt\u2019s best start of the young season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fun to work with,\u2019\u2019 the right-hander said after allowing a solo homer to Anthony Santander and four walks. \u201cI think everything I throw is a strike because he makes it look so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.C.J.C. Escarra and Luke Weaver celebrate win over the Blue Jays. Jason Szenes \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

The ever-positive Escarra has also drawn praise for his positive attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so competitive and is always smiling,\u2019\u2019 Schmidt said. \u201cYou root for a guy like that. He appreciates the moment and doesn\u2019t take anything for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boone also noted that the lefty-swinging Escarra has some power. Although he has just five hits on the season, three are for extra-bases. And he added an RBI single off lefty reliever Brendon Little in the sixth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is cool for him,\u2019\u2019 said Luke Weaver, who pitched the ninth. \u201cHe\u2019s worked really hard at it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.C. Escarra\u2019s journey from Uber driver to backup catcher for the Yankees got another chapter on Sunday, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,1121,4,62,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-1176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-j-c-escarra","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york-yankees","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114417823229961277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}