Have the Yankees found their long term solution at 1st base?

Dayne Huber

7/6/24

 

Rice is served

Coming out of college Ben Rice was not a well-known name to scouts. Rice played college baseball in the Ivy League at Dartmouth  and was not heavily scouted by MLB front offices. Because of the lost season due to COVID, Rice’s baseball future was very much in doubt at the conclusion of his college career. This is a kid who drove himself to tryouts around the country to try and get MLB teams to notice him and hopefully get drafted. When the Yankees drafted him in the 12th round, he was basically a lottery ticket since they hoped would turn into a useful piece. Like with any pick from the 12th round expectations were low, but they didn’t count of Rices work ethic or high baseball IQ.

During the 2021 season Rice statistics were very underwhelming to say the least. He batted .197/. 345/ .7O9 OPS in 2021 with only three home runs across two levels. In 2022 in the FCL he batted 267/ .364/ .810 Which were solid members but he was extremely old to the level and was facing much younger competition. Coming into the 2023 season we knew Ben Rice as a player with a great eye at the plate but not much else. He went about changing that in a big way last year. In the offseason he went to work with Aaron Judge’s swing coach and when he came off the injured list  he set the world on fire. In only 275 At bats Rice proceeded to hit .324/ 434/1.049  with 20 home runs and 68 RBI in AA.

If you had been following his progress on NYYU and YankeesFarm,  you will know that Carlos and I questioned if the power was real last season. He had always been an OBP machine, but had never shown the kind of power that he did in those final 275 ABS of 2023. Rice also had the issue of not hitting left hand pitching well, especially breaking balls. We wanted to see him hit well again and show the same level of power over an extended sample size this season.

He again went back to work with Teacher Man to improve his hitting against left hand pitchers and it paid off in a big way. Rice was hitting .292 against left hand pitchers in across 225 ABS this season prior to his MLB callup. He also continued to show that the power that he flashed in 2023 was 100 percent legit  by smashing 12 doubles and 15 HRs during that sample size.

After Rizzo went now with an injury to his arm there was a lot of talk of which first base prospect either, Rice or TJ Rumfield, that the Yankees should call up to fill the hole caused by Rizzo injury.  Rumfield is a Gold Glove caliber 1st baseman that hits for a great average, but ultimately lacks the offensive ceiling Rice had shown to be capable of. The Yankees ultimately chose Rice and made the right decision.  In his very first game he showed that he was not over matched at the plate and looked excellent working counts and making opposing pitchers work to get him out. Even after calling him up the Yankees felt as necessary to bring in JD Davis to platoon with him at first because the Yankees still questioned Rice’s ability to hit left-hand MLB pitching. Rice showed very early on in the series against the Braves that he could hit some of the best left-hand pitching in baseball  after having good games against both Max Freed and Chris Sale, two of the better left-hand pitchers in baseball. Overall in 44 MLB AB Rice is hitting .295/.392/ 971 which is more than solid production at the MLB level.

In today’s game Rice showed the power that we’d all been hoping to see at the MLB level hitting three HRs  and driving in seven. There has been alot of questions about what the Yankees were going to do at first base for the rest of this year and going forward in the future. Many people were advocating trading to get one of Bellinger, Vladdy JR or Christian Walker to fill that hole.  I believe the Yankees have found that answer in Ben Rice. He has the bat and swing that is tailor made for Yankees stadium and the short porch. He has shown to be a more than adequate defensively at first baseman and with his work ethic that will only improve in the future.

Ben Rice should be the Yankees starting first baseman for the rest of this year even when Anthony Rizzo comes returns. Rice has shown to be a very capable leadoff hitter working counts and getting on base in front of Judge and Soto.  Rice will benefit immensely from hitting it in front of them, but he also brings power and ability to drive in runs from the lead off spot. The Yankees need to get more from the bottom of their line up and if they can get guys on base then Rice is more than capable of driving them in with much more frequency than we saw from  Volpe in his sample size at the lead off position. After today’s game there is no question Rice should be playing every day regardless of the pitcher they are facing. I believe then Rice is a big part of the solution to this team’s issues that we have seen in the last month. The Yankees have some serious holes to fill in their lineup and their bullpen, but first base should no longer be an issue this season.

Is Ben Rice the superstar? probably not, but he can be that very consistent very good player that good teams need to help them win. For years we as Yankee fans have doubted every single prospect with good reason that the Yankees have called up. This new group starting with Anthony Volpe, Wells, Dominguez and now Rice that they can develop above average or better MLB players that ca surround Soto and Judge to help this team win. The really good news for us Yankees fans is that the Yankees have even more talent on the verge of contributing to this club start with Agus Ramirez

and Jorbit Vivas

who are both playing very well in AAA.

With Ben Rice emerging as legit long term option at first base, I believe that frees the Yankees up to focus on more pressing needs at the trade deadline. I believe they have to go out and get a third baseman and a left hand reliever with velocity and strike out stuff. I believe the rest of the issues with this team has can be solved in house from our farm system and those options will be better than anything that we can acquire on a very thin trade market this year. Having Ben Rice on this team is a big step in the filling some of the massive holes that we’ve seen from this team over the last month. Be very excited that Ben Rice has emerged as a very solid MLB player and a long-term building piece for our Yankees