During their Monday offday, the Yankees announced that they had demoted J.C. Escarra back down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The catcher made just one appearance with the big club since his recall on August 10th, coming in as a defensive replacement in a blowout victory against the Twins and going 0-for-1 with an RBI. On the season, Escarra is slashing .202/.296/.333 with the Yankees in 98 plate appearances. After cracking the Opening Day roster, the 30-year-old rookie was sent down during the Yankees’
flurry of moves at the Trade Deadline to accommodate newcomers Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario, and Austin Slater, with previous third-stringer Ben Rice fully joining Austin Wells as the team’s new catching tandem.
Escarra was recently recalled after both Rosario and Slater landed on the injured list. Per the New York Post’s Greg Joyce, the Yankees are expected to activate the veteran utilityman in advance of their Tuesday night game in Tampa against the Rays as the corresponding move for Escarra’s demotion. Rosario, who was hitting .312 with 12 extra-base hits in 99 plate appearances with southpaws on the bump this season with the Nationals, was brought in last month to provide more right-handed versatility to a lefty-heavy lineup. He got off to a hot start with his new club, going 3-for-7 before landing on the shelf with a a sternoclavicular joint sprain in his left shoulder suffered after slamming into the right-field wall on August 8th against Houston.
At the time of his injury, Rosario had expressed a hope of missing the minimum 10 days on the IL, a plan that appears to be coming to fruition. With the Yankees slated to face right-handers in both of their games against the Rays this week, Rosario may be relegated to bench duty upon his return, though he will be ready for any late-game pinch-hit scenarios.
