Ben Rice cleaning up in star-studded Yankees lineup

New York– Will Warren saw ben riceThe under-the-radar apparent rose through professional baseball after being drafted in the fourth round in 2021.

New York Yankees‘ The right-hander watched Rice, then a full-time catcher at Dartmouth, terrorize pitchers at every level without any fanfare until he reached the big leagues in June 2024. Last year, he watched Rice crush the baseball in all areas, only the results didn’t fully reflect the process. So, what Warren and the rest of the baseball world is seeing this season isn’t surprising.

“Ben Rice is performing average right now,” Warren said with a smile.

it’s too early, Very early, but as the Yankees’ primary cleanup hitter, Rice is 12 for 37 with three home runs, 11 RBI and 11 walks through 11 games. He is among the major league leaders in both traditional metrics, such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and modern metrics, such as xwOBA and hard-hit percentage. He managed the Yankees’ only hit on Thursday as their offense suffered its second consecutive loss. Exercise.

On a roster brimming with high-priced stars, future Hall of Famers and hyped former prospects, Rice, 27, has emerged from relative obscurity to establish himself as one of the most important players on a World Series contender in his second full major league season.

“You’re starting to see what we saw last year, where some of the balls he was hitting hard weren’t falling,” Yankees hitting coach James Rawson said. “This year, he’s getting those hits. And then, this is another year of experience he has in this league. He knows he belongs in this league, and it takes a while to get there. When you first get in this league, you’re trying to feel your way around it. But now, you watch him, he knows he can hit here. He knows he belongs here.”

Rice displayed his skills during his first two seasons in the majors. As a rookie in 2024, he hit three home runs against his hometown team at Yankee Stadium on the Fourth of July. boston red soxHowever, he grew up a Yankee fan, 20 miles away from Fenway Park in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

His 2025 season was, by all accounts, a tremendous success for a player in his first full big league campaign. He hit 26 home runs with an .836 OPS and 133 wRC+ in 138 games, and regained his role as the everyday first baseman by the end of the year, with 12 home runs and a .894 OPS after the All-Star break. But Rice and the organization saw other possibilities.

“We had conversations like, ‘Hey, the process has been really good all year, so there’s a lot to build on so just try to keep that momentum going,'” Rice said.

Rice consistently hit the ball hard and rarely made bad swing decisions. An MVP-level redshirt color was shown on his Baseball Savant page. The Yankees envisioned some improvement in margins and a star with better luck. He imagined in 2026 what he has seen so far.

“I think he’s starting to continue what he did last year,” the Yankees first baseman said. Paul GoldschmidtA former National League MVP who has served as a backup to Rice and has been deployed mostly against left-handed pitchers. “I think we saw it. He’s a smart hitter. He hits the ball hard. Controls the strike zone. Hits to all parts of the field. He has good at-bats. He has a good plan. Basically, everything you want from a hitter. And he’s a guy who continues to work offensively, defensively. So, we can see him improving this year and in years to come.”

Till this year, there was no stability in rice. COVID derailed his college experience at Dartmouth. Yankees Northeast area scout Matt Hyde first discovered Rice not in an Ivy League matchup but in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League in 2020, when it was the only collegiate summer league operating during COVID. While playing for the Worcester Bravehearts, Rice impressed Hyde with his raw power.

“I got to see a lot of Ben,” Hyde told Buster Olney on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight Podcast” this week. “At that time, if the game was tied after nine innings, there was a home run hitting contest to determine who was the winner of the game. And Ben was always in the home run derby, so you always got to see the power.

“And I followed him to the championship game, and I’ll never forget him taking batting practice in the old stadium in Nashua, where Roy Campanella and Don Newcomb used to play back in the day. And it’s surrounded by these huge pine trees, and he was hitting massive home runs at BP.”

The Ivy League did not hold fall baseball in 2020 or a spring season in 2021, but Rice helped start a pickup league at a baseball facility in Northborough, Massachusetts, attended by scouts. Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ director of amateur scouting, lived nearby and was a frequent presence.

“We called it the Ben Rice League,” Hyde said.

That June, the Yankees selected Rice as a catcher in the 12th round. Rice played twice a week in a farm system loaded with attractive talent. He reached the majors anyway, but was forced to learn first base as a rookie due to organizational stagnation at the position. Last year he had to compete for playing time with Goldschmidt.

This season has been different. Rice reported for spring training, becoming familiar with his surroundings and eventually taking up a regular role as the team’s every-day first baseman.

“This year, I was coming into spring training still looking to improve, get ready for the season and work hard,” Rice said. “But I also have the peace of mind of, ‘Hey, I’m going to be on this team, and I’m going to play an every-day role to start the year, and I’ve got to be ready for it.'”

During the Yankees’ home opener last Friday. miami marlinsRice displayed a mix of qualities – moxie, power, plate discipline, intelligence and confidence – that the Yankees believe will propel him to stardom.

It began with frustration when Rice struck out in his first plate appearance, failing to recognize that the called third strike was a ball he could challenge. So in his second plate appearance, he burned a challenge on a slider that caught all of the strike zone before striking out again.

“He Was To play in it,” Rice said. “Whether it was in my conscious mind or not, I remember going into the dugout after the first one that I didn’t challenge, and I was like, ‘Man, I’m angry.’

His outburst continued in the third at-bat when he struck out swinging at a 3-2 splitter in the dirt. Three at-bats, three strikeouts. This was shaping up to be a day to forget. Then, a shock dispelled the despair.

In his fourth at-bat, Rice hit a 110.9 mph rocket down the right field line for a home run, causing a scream toward his dugout on the way to first base. One inning later, he concluded his day by hitting a 101.1 mph line drive off the top of the wall into right-center field for a two-run double.

“It shows you the next step,” Rawson said. “He went in the next AB. When you see a guy have three tough at-bats to start a game, sometimes that’s where the game ends. And he showed you he can still stick with it, make comebacks, and he had two at-bats that essentially set us up to win the game. That’s what he’s been able to do.”

Throughout the off-season, as the Yankees retained players, a narrative was spun: the Yankees were simply running it back. Additionally, there was a perception from the outside that the 2026 Yankees would not be good enough to win the World Series because the 2025 Yankees were not good enough. Time will tell if the run-it-back Yanks are good enough to win the franchise’s first championship since 2009 — so far the bullpen has faltered and the bottom half of the lineup isn’t producing — but part of their offseason equation was the imminent return of the ace. gerrit cole And opportunity for improvement from returnees. Perhaps no one embodies that potential more than Rice.

“Looking back at last year, the luck wasn’t necessarily on his side, but he didn’t get distracted by anything, he didn’t change anything,” Warren said. “He just kept going to work every day. I think that’s what’s great about this game. If you’re consistent in your work, there are ups and downs, but, for the most part, you’re above average. And that’s how I’ve played since I was drafted. It’s fun to watch.”