In a lot of ways, the journey from then to now has been impossible to calculate for J.C. Escarra. Untold numbers of hours grinding despite little evidence his dream would ever be realized.
Thousands of miles traveled as he bounced from the Orioles’ farm system to various independent league teams to stops in the Mexican, Puerto Rican and Dominican winter leagues.
On Thursday, the difference between then and now could be measured by a few feet: The former Uber driver was no longer in the driver’s seat, stepping into the back seat of an Uber Black SUV that brought him from his hotel in Manhattan to his new place of work in The Bronx.
After taking control of his own career and refusing to allow it to die, he could relax his grip on the literal steering wheel.
“When I was driving Uber, I had no idea the people that were getting in my car,” Escarra said before Opening Day against the Brewers, his first game as a major leaguer. “I was just thinking about whoever the driver was, he has a Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees sitting in his car.
“It was a pretty good moment.”
The journey came full circle for the best story around the Yankees, whose story has gone viral.
Out of affiliated baseball following the 2021 season with the Orioles, with whom he was a first baseman, Escarra strapped back on his catching gear and played for relative pennies — which forced him to make dollars through driving for Uber and substitute teaching to pay for a mortgage on an apartment for him and his wife in Miami.
As a sub at Doral Academy Charter High School, Escarra taught all sorts of subjects — art, music, physical education (his favorite) — and would fill in wherever needed because a teacher was absent.
In early 2023, when scouts were descending upon the school to get looks at eventual Rays first-round pick Adrian Santana, Escarra would walk by the field after class to introduce himself.
“I would go one by one: ‘Hey, you need a left-handed hitting catcher, I’m your guy,’” Escarra would say. “But none of those guys ended up signing me.”
It was the Yankees and scout Raul Gonzalez who signed Escarra out of indy ball in January 2024, sent him to Double-A Somerset and watched him earn a promotion to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
After a strong 2024 campaign and a standout spring training, he earned a trip to the majors as a backup catcher — and an Uber ride that he did not have to drive.
“It’s a dream come true,” Escarra said. “There was a time in my life that I thought I wasn’t going to be playing baseball anymore. To wake up this morning as a Major League Baseball player, especially for the New York Yankees, it means the world to me.”
