The Yankees are selecting the contract of catcher/first baseman Ben Rice, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Rice will take over at first base with Anthony Rizzo expected to miss over a month due to a fractured arm. The Yankees have space open on their 40-man roster, so a corresponding move won’t be necessary to clear a spot for Rice.
Rice, 25, was a 12th-round pick by the Yankees in the 2021 draft out of Dartmouth but has hit quite well at every level of the minors despite his status as a late-round pick. He ranks as the #14 prospect in the club’s system per Baseball America and 12th according to MLB Pipeline. After spending the first two seasons of his professional career at the Single-A level, Rice enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, advancing across three levels of the minors to reach Double-A for the first time in his career. He slashed an impressive .324/.434/.615 in 332 trips to the plate across the Single-A, High-A, and Double-A levels that year—including an excellent .327/.401/.648 line with 30 extra-base hits (16 homers) in 48 games at Double-A Somerset.
Rice returned to Somerset to open the 2024 campaign and once again hit well at the level, albeit in not quite as dominant a fashion as his first taste of Double-A action. in 218 trips to the plate at the level this year, Rice posted a .261/.383/.511 slash line while slugging 12 home runs and going an impressive 8-for-8 on the basepaths. That performance was enough to earn Rice the call up to Triple-A on June 5, and he responded to the call by slashing an excellent .333/.419/.619 in his first 50 trips to the plate at the level. While it’s certainly unusual for a prospect to get promoted to the big leagues just 11 games into their tenure at the highest level of the minors, Rice’s exceptional offensive numbers are hard to deny.
The youngster’s bat is well ahead of his skills defensively behind the plate, a reality that caused the Yankees to begin getting him time at first base back in 2022. He’s split time between first and catcher since then, although between his status as an unfinished product behind the plate and the Yankees’ move to call him up following Rizzo’s injury it seems unlikely he’ll see much time behind the plate in the majors for the time being. Some scouts have suggested that first base could be his long term home, anyway, although there appears to still be some optimism he could stick behind the plate. BA notes that Rice has shown plenty of improvement in his blocking skills throughout his time with the Yankees, even as his ability to control the running game still leaves much to be desired.
Regardless of where the 25-year-old ultimately makes his home on the diamond in the long term, Rice seems ticketed for at least semi-regular reps at first base in his first taste of big league action. Previous reporting had suggested that the infield corners would be handled by Oswaldo Cabrera at third base and DJ LeMahieu at first while Rizzo was on the shelf, and it remains to be seen exactly how playing time will be distributed between the three players. It’s possible that Cabrera and LeMahieu could end up in a timeshare at third while Rice takes the lion’s share of playing time at first, but it stands to reason that LeMahieu could still see some time at first base against southpaws. After all, the lefty-swinging Rice showed a significant platoon split during the 2023 season. In 70 trips to the plate against same-handed pitching last year, he hit just .217/.329/.317. Given those concerns, it would hardly be a surprise if the Yankees decided to protect Rice against some or even all lefty pitchers in the early days of his big league career.
