Ben Rice

From BR Bullpen

Benjamin Kimball Rice

BR page

Biographical Information[edit]

Ben Rice had been mainly a catcher in the minors when he was called up by the New York Yankees in June of 2024 to take over at first base for an injured Anthony Rizzo.

A New England boy who had grown up cheering for the Yankees in a region dominated by fans of the Boston Red Sox, he attended Dartmouth College from where he was drafted by the Bronx Bombers in the 12th round of the 2021 amateur draft. This was solely based on his performance in summer collegiate baseball, as the COVID-19 pandemic stopped his 2020 season after just 7 games, and the Ivy League did not resume playing baseball until the spring of 2022. In the Futures Collegiate Baseball League however he hit .392 in 2019 and .350 in 2020.

He began his pro career in 2021 and in 2022 he hit .267 with 9 homers and 36 RBIs for the Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League. He really staked his claim as a prospect in 2023, when played at three different levels, starting at Tampa and passing through the Hudson Valley Renegades of the South Atlantic League before ending up with the Somerset Patriots in the AA Eastern League. His slash line in 73 games was .324/.434/.615 with 20 homers and 68 RBIs. He started 2024 back at Somerset, where he hit .261 in 49 games with 12 homers and 26 RBIs. He was promoted to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at the beginning of June but it took just 11 games for him to get the call to head to the Show. He had hit .333 with 3 homers and 10 RBIs in those 11 games.

He made his major league debut on June 18, 2024, batting 6th and starting at first base against the Baltimore Orioles. He got his first major league hit in that game, a single off Albert Suarez, and he showed a good approach at the plate over the next couple of weeks, securing his position as the starting first baseman. In fact, he appeared in only one game at catcher, catching the 9th inning of 16-5 blowout win over the Toronto Blue Jays on June 28th, but otherwise playing exclusively first base. He hit his first major league homer on July 4th, off Frankie Montas of the Cincinnati Reds then on July 6th wrote his name in the Yankees' record books when he became the first rookie in franchise history to have a three-homer game. By then, he had been promoted to lead-off hitter as Anthony Volpe had been struggling after a good start, and he led off the bottom of the 1st with a solo blast off Josh Winckowski of the Boston Red Sox. He added a pair of three-run blasts off Chase Anderson in the 5th and 7th innings to collect 7 RBIs in New York's 14-4 win. Anthony Rizzo was looking increasingly like Wally Pipp by then. He ended the season at 171 in 50 games, with 7 homers and 23 RBIs; his OPS+ was 72. As a result, he was not used in the postseason, as the Yankees made it to the World series for the first time since their last championship back in 2009.

Given his struggles in 2024 (in spite of the occasional bursts of power), it was not sure that Ben would start the 2025 season with New York, especially after their signing 1B Paul Goldschmidt as a free agent in the off-season. There was little appetite to have him be back-up to C Austin Wells (J.C. Escarra, who had yet to make his big league debut, got that gig), but he hit well enough in spring training, blasting 5 homers in 20 games, to win a job as a DH and occasional first baseman. He started the season very strong, hitting .350 in his first seven games, with 2 doubles and 2 homers, after being the starting DH on Opening Day. It looked increasingly that his future would be as a hitter, with catching something that no longer figured on his résumé, except for an occasional brief stint here and there. Now solidly installed near the top of the team's batting order, he hit his first grand slam on May 11th at Sutter Health Park, the temporary home base of The Athletics in West Sacramento, CA. It came against reliever Mitch Spence in a 12-2 blowout win. On August 16th, he was the hero of a 12-8 win over the St. Louis Cardinals by matching his career high of 7 RBIs. He finished the season at .255 in 138 games, with 28 doubles, 26 homers, 74 runs and 65 RBIs. His OPS+ was 130 as he split his time almost evenly between first base, DH and catcher. He made his postseason debut that year, going 2 for 7 with a homer as the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox in three games in the Wild Card Series, and 2 for 11 in their loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the Division Series.

He started the 2026 season as one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball. After 21 games, he was leading the American League in batting (.338), OBP (.476) and slugging (.800), in addition to OPS and OPS+. His 8 homers trailed only teammate Aaron Judge, who had 9. He was now the undisputed starter at first base, with Goldschmidt scrouging for at-bats here and there, and was even starting games against left-handers, something he had almost never done before.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • 20-Home Run Seasons: 1 (2025)

Further Reading[edit]

  • David Adler: "The new-look swing behind Rice's hot start", mlb.com, April 4, 2025. [1]
  • Anthony Castrovince: "He once wrote 'Yankees rule' on the Pesky Pole. Now he's mashing for them", mlb.com, April 24, 2025. [2]
  • Theo DeRosa: "Rice's first career slam a balm for two plunkings as Yanks roll", mlb.com, May 11, 2025. [3]
  • Bryan Hoch: "Rice makes Yanks history with 3-HR game vs. Red Sox: Against hometown club, Rice becomes first rookie in franchise history to accomplish feat", mlb.com, July 6, 2024. [4]
  • Bryan Hoch: "Before Rice beat Sox, Yanks beat them to him", mlb.com, July 8, 2024. [5]

Related Sites[edit]

Retrieved from "https://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/index.php?title=Ben_Rice&oldid=1493009"