Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

WATCH – Luke Weaver Hands Game Ball to JC Escarra in Wholesome Moment After His First Yankees Start

A special day for JC Escarra!

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

In a heartwarming moment that captured just what dreams are made of, Yankees pitcher Luke Weaver handed the game ball to JC Escarra following Thursday’s 9-7 victory over the Diamondbacks, a fitting tribute to the 29-year-old catcher who notched his first MLB start and hit on the same night.

Luke Weaver closes it out but the gesture with @jcescarra of giving JC the game ball on his first start was pretty awesome! So happy to see you my cuz enjoying baseball in the games biggest stage! You deserve it! pic.twitter.com/Bt4Dxb5PPe
— Yankeeslife87 (@yankeeslife87) April 4, 2025

Escarra’s path to the majors has been anything but conventional. The backup catcher, who previously drove for Uber and worked as a substitute teacher to keep his baseball aspirations alive, etched his name in Yankees history by becoming the 13th-oldest player to debut with the storied franchise.

“It’s funny how baseball works. When you don’t try to do too much, that’s when things come.”

His seventh-inning double down the right field line brought a wide smile to his face as he stood at second base, savoring a moment years in the making. After the game, Escarra dedicated the milestone ball to his father, a longtime Yankees fan.

Escarra's 1st big-league hit 👏

Congrats, @jcescarra! pic.twitter.com/9enTul7TE1
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 4, 2025

“Been through a lot,” Escarra said of his father, “so he deserves that ball, and he’s gonna be happy.”

While Escarra made personal history, Weaver delivered a clutch four-out save that preserved the Yankees’ victory. With All-Star closer Devin Williams on paternity leave, Weaver stepped up with what manager Aaron Boone described as “probably his best pitching since the World Series.”

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While JC Escarra settles into the role of backing up Austin Wells, he realizes that the jitters are part of the experience. “I want to feel everything because that’s what makes it special,” he told The Post before the game. “Eventually, that feeling’s gonna subside, and I’m gonna go back to the work that I put in, the baseball that I know how to play and just compete.”

So maybe, this is what dreams are made of?

JC Escarra

Luke Weaver

Yankees

Mohsin Baldiwala

mlb

Mohsin Baldiwala is a Master’s student in Journalism and freelance content producer who got hooked on baseball through Seinfeld’s hapless George Costanza. The same reason why he’s a Yankees fan. He writes about sports because he believes it can offer a brief escape from the world’s chaos. Even if that means enduring the heartbreak of the 2024 World Series.