{"id":629865,"date":"2026-03-18T11:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629865\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:58:28","slug":"j-c-escarra-credits-blast-from-yankees-recent-past-for-hard-hitting-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629865\/","title":{"rendered":"J.C. Escarra credits blast from Yankees’ recent past for hard-hitting spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. \u2014 After hitting his third home run of the spring and throwing out a would-be base-stealer on Tuesday, catcher J.C Escarra attracted a small crowd of reporters as the Yankees worked on a 3-2 exhibition win over the Rays.<\/p>\n

The scrum also included teammate Oswaldo Cabrera, who quickly changed the subject from Escarra\u2019s play to his scent. Well, scents, actually.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I ask my question?\u201d Cabrera politely interjected. \u201cHow many perfume bottles you have in your collection?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer, Escarra said, is over 100. He\u2019s a big fan of unisex perfume \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s hardly the only baseball player who feels fragrances are a performance-enhancer<\/a> \u2014 so much so that he packed two different bottles for the Yankees\u2019 trip to Charlotte Sports Park. One was for pregame, the other for postgame.<\/p>\n

Escarra added that he\u2019s spent \u201ca couple thousand\u201d on the stuff. While some bottles in his collection only cost $25-$30, his most expensive is a $900 Baccarat Rouge 540. That was a gift from former Indy ball teammate and ex-big leaguer Matt Adams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI rotate. So if I\u2019ve used one a couple times already, I might put it to the back and get the next one in line,\u201d Escarra explained, though he may roll with the smells that accompanied Tuesday\u2019s strong performance. \u201cI had a good day, so I think I gotta stick with these for a little while until there\u2019s no more homers and put-outs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Escarra certainly believes in a correlation between smelling good and playing good, he actually thinks there\u2019s another reason he\u2019s had a successful spring, especially at the plate.<\/p>\n

That would be his new torpedo bat.<\/p>\n

Escarra has bought into the oddly-shaped lumber, which inspired a days-long news cycle at the start of last season after several Yankees used the bats in a few blowout wins<\/a>. Escarra messed with the torpedoes in 2025, but never committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used it for a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen things don\u2019t go your way right out the gate, I pushed it to the side. But this year I said, \u2018Yo, I\u2019m gonna live and die by this bat.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Escarra said his reconsideration came with some encouragement from the Yankees\u2019 analytics department, specifically Zac Fieroh. His official title is \u201cmanager, analytics and implementation, quantitative analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge also played an indirect part, as Escarra used one of his bats over the offseason, liked its heavier weight, and had a torpedo version of it made. The way the Yankees explained it, the torpedo barrel gives Escarra more coverage on pitches he tends to miss.<\/p>\n

Asked if he\u2019s noticed any tangible difference using the bat, Escarra said, \u201cI\u2019m hitting the ball harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s right, as Escarra entered Tuesday\u2019s game with a 94.1-mph average exit velocity this spring after averaging just 90.8 mph last season. And that was before his third-inning solo shot against Ryan Pepiot traveled 438 feet at 108.4 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s that. Maybe it\u2019s not, but I\u2019d like to think so,\u201d Escarra said of his torpedo bat. \u201cIf I know I got a small edge, I\u2019m gonna have more confidence. Hitting is all about being prepared and having confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

As happy as Escarra was with his homer, he said the best part of his day was throwing out Ben Williamson at second in the first inning. That\u2019s something he has been working on since catching just one base-stealer and allowing 19 swipes last year.<\/p>\n

Escarra\u2019s value behind the plate comes from his receiving, as he finished eighth in catcher framing runs (minimum 500 pitches) in 2025 despite spending a chunk of the season at Triple-A. It\u2019s a large reason why the former Uber driver and substitute teacher<\/a> is poised to make the Yankees\u2019 Opening Day roster again as the backup to Austin Wells.<\/p>\n

Whatever Escarra can add with his bat and arm is a bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cJ.C. is a really good player,\u201d Aaron Boone said. \u201cI tell him this too: he just hasn\u2019t gotten a chance yet. There\u2019s no doubt in my mind, he\u2019s a top-half-of-the-league catcher.\u201d<\/p>\n

CRUZ BRINGS THE HEAT<\/p>\n

Little attention was paid when the Yankees made Yovanny Cruz their first signing of the offseason on Nov. 8, as the 26-year-old hadn\u2019t pitched above Double-A and merely inked a minor league deal.<\/p>\n

But the righty made his spring debut on Friday and pitched again on Tuesday. Both appearances saw him throw 100 mph with ease; he averaged 100.3 against the Rays while striking out two and walking none.<\/p>\n

A sudden revelation, Boone said \u201cwe\u2019ll see\u201d when asked if Cruz could be in contention for a spot in the Yankees\u2019 Opening Day bullpen. Of course, that\u2019s unlikely given his lack of experience and limited camp \u2013 he reported with a banged-up shoulder \u2013 but an opportunity could come later in the season if Cruz can fire with control, something he\u2019s had trouble with previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he throws strikes, he can impact things,\u201d Boone said. \u201cSo that\u2019s been a challenge so far in his career, but first two times out with us, he\u2019s been good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be in the conversation, but more importantly, [he\u2019ll] potentially be in the mix over the long haul, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

BULLPEN HOPEFULS
\nThree likelier bullpen hopefuls, Cade Winquest, Jake Bird and Kervin Castro, all threw an inning on Tuesday. Winquest allowed an inherited runner to score and struck out one, while Castro earned a run and fanned one.<\/p>\n

Bird had the best day, logging a scoreless, hitless frame with one walk and three strikeouts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. \u2014 After hitting his third home run of the spring and throwing out a would-be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,1121,4,1690,62,2548,2547,151,142],"class_list":["post-629865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-yankees","tag-baseball","tag-j-c-escarra","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkyankees","tag-spring-training","tag-yankees"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116250064265565913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629865","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=629865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}