One of last year’s spring training feel-good stories, J.C. Escarra, just got a major boost from New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone. In speaking with reporters recently, Boone said of Escarra, “There’s no doubt in my mind he’s a top-half-of-the-league catcher.”
Escarra’s story was even more incredible than his torrid 2025 spring training. The former Baltimore Orioles minor leaguer was out of affiliated ball for two seasons, instead playing in the independent leagues while driving for Uber and substitute teaching to make ends meet. When he resurfaced with the Yankees in 2024, playing in Somerset and Scranton, he did so at a brand new position, catcher.
After earning the backup catcher job and realizing his major league dream, Escarra got some pretty cool ink to mark the achievement, and he’s once again raking this spring. Through 10 games, the soon-to-be-31-year-old is slashing .276/.300/.655 with three homers. It’s another impressive showing, but it does little to disprove what his .202/.296/.333 line in 2025 showed us — he’s pretty much standard, light-hitting backup catcher fare.
Aaron Boone’s J.C. Escarra comments make it hard to trust the Yankees skipper
The facts of the matter are that the Yankees spent most of the offseason looking for an Escarra replacement. They wanted a right-handed-hitting backstop, though options were slim and there were more pressing needs to fill. The reason for looking at alternatives, though, wasn’t just about lineup balance. The club wanted an upgrade, but wouldn’t upset the apple cart for a right-handed bat at catcher who was no better than Escarra.
There’s also not much guarantee that Escarra sees much playing time in 2026. He might not even be the primary backup. Instead, that responsibility could fall onto Ben Rice, with Paul Goldschmidt taking over at first when matchups dictate, as a means to circumvent the lack of a righty-hitting catcher.
So when we think about Boone calling Escarra a top-15 catcher in the game, we’re wondering in what world he’s coming to this conclusion. You’d have to be very bold to consider starting him over Austin Wells, and we’re not even sure if the unlikely Team Dominican Republic star is firmly entrenched in the top-15 at the position.
What we do know is that Wells has the pedigree and the talent to be one of the better catchers in the league, and a simple tweak could unlock that potential. There’s no way Escarra should usurp him. So what the heck is Boone talking about?
It’s fine to juice up players and be positive, and that’s certainly the Yankees skipper’s schtick, but without any basis in reality, they don’t hold the weight he thinks they do. As for the fans, they need to take everything he says with a grain of salt.
Boone has made several very complimentary comments about a handful of relievers battling for the last spot, too. But if he’s willing to disassociate from reality with his Escarra evaluation, we can’t trust those, either. It’s unfortunate, because we look to the manager to be the face of the team and give us a sense of what’s really going on, but this latest off-the-wall statement makes it hard to take anything he says seriously.
