In many ways, the journeys up until now have been impossible to calculate JC Escala. Folding times shattering, despite little evidence that his dreams will rarely be realized.
Thousands of miles travelled as he bounced off the Orioles farm system to various independent league teams and stopped in the Mexican, Puerto Rican and Dominican winter leagues.
On Thursday, the difference between then and now could be measured in a few feet. The former Uber driver was no longer in the driver's seat. I stepped into the back seat of an Uber Black SUV that brought him from my Manhattan hotel to my new workplace in the Bronx.
After controlling his own career and refusing to die, he was able to relax the grip with the literal steering wheel.
“When I was driving an Uber, I didn't know the people in my car,” Eskara said to the Brewers, his first game as a major leaguer, before opening day. “I was thinking about who 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.”
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Following his 2021 season with the Orioles, who are his one-base moves, Eskara was tied to his catching gear and played for relative pennies.
As a sub at Doral Academy Charter High School, Eskara teaches all sorts of themes (arts, music, physical education (his favorite)) and fills them wherever they need to be, because the teacher was absent.
In early 2023, when the scouts left school and saw the final Rays first round pick, Adrian Santana, Escarra walked the field after class to introduce herself.
“I go one by one: 'Hey, you need a left-handed batting catcher, I'm your guy,'” says Eskara. “But none of those people would sign me.”
Yankees and scout Raul Gonzalez sent him out of Indyball in January 2024, seeing him get a promotion to Double A Somerset and Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
After a strong 2024 campaign and outstanding spring training, he won a trip to the majors as a backup catcher.
“That makes your dream come true,” Eskara said. “There was a time in my life when I thought I had no intention of playing baseball anymore. This morning, as a major league baseball player, especially for the New York Yankees, that means the world to me.”
