SARASOTA, Fla. – Yankees catcher/first baseman Ben Rice is raking. He credits added strength and experience with his solid showing this spring.
Rice is batting .260 with five homers (tied for third in the Grapefruit League) and nine RBIs after a rain-delayed 9-7 win over the Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium. Even after going 0-for-4, Rice has a .560 slugging percentage, an .899 OPS and 28 total bases.
“He’s banging,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Rice before the game. “He’s been killing the ball. We saw that last year. We saw him at the big league level. Took his lumps at the big league level, too. But even then, he was still hitting the ball hard a lot.”
Rice got called up last June 18 and was batting .294 after hitting three homers with seven RBIs against the Red Sox on July 6. But he went into a steady decline, and he ended up batting .171 with seven homers and 23 RBIs in 152 at-bats.
What was the most important thing Rice learned while breaking into the Majors?
“I think that you’ve just got to stick to your strengths,” said Rice. “Cover a weakness and just lean on your strengths.”
Boone added, “Now, he’s just physically even that much stronger. So he’s hitting the ball as hard as anyone you’ll see – consistently hard. He’s controlling the strike zone well – had a couple walks yesterday in and around that big homer. So he’s just looking like a really good hitter.”
Rice is listed at 6-foot-2, 228 pounds after adding 10 pounds.
“It’s 10 really good pounds,” noted Boone.
Rice added on the increased strength: “Those things definitely help in hitting the ball harder. But also, just having that experience under my belt, knowing how guys are going to pitch me. Knowing my strengths, I know what I’ve got to do.”
How did he add weight?
“I just ate more,” said Rice, who had a plate of macaroni and cheese and chicken after the game. “Just carbs, protein, anything.”
Rice’s average exit velocity last season was 90 mph, and he said it’s definitely above that this spring.
Rice said: “Having the timing down. Having the approach down, good barrel awareness. Those are the things – you can still get as strong as you want – but you’ve still got to square up the ball.”
Rice has been the catcher eight times and the first baseman five times this spring. Boone said he also factors in at designated hitter.
Where might Rice, who added catching to his skills in the Minors in 2022, fit best?
“It depends how we go behind [starter] Austin [Wells],” said Boone. “Do we go two catchers? Do we go three catchers?”
J.C. Escarra also is in the catching mix.
Boone added on Rice: “He’s capable of all of it. Like, he’s catching tonight and playing first tomorrow, I think, in Lakeland [against the Tigers]. We’ve DH’d him. So we want to try and get his bat in where we can.
“He’s in a really good place.”
When asked if he can sense the confidence Rice is playing with, Boone said, “Confidence, yes. Right away last year, it looked like this guy was going to hit. He’s really become a good receiver.
“But I think he’s really confident when he walks up to the plate. [Bench coach] Brad [Ausmus] and I were talking about it the other day. He’s pretty confident walking up. You hit the ball like he does, you know, there’s no reason [not to be].”
You be the Judge
Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge is one of those players who has nothing to prove in Spring Training. However, after walking twice and striking out swinging against Baltimore, Judge is batting .115, with a double being his only extra-base hit in 26 at-bats.
What are Boone’s thoughts on his reigning American League Most Valuable Player this spring?
“He looks good to me,” said Boone. “He’s about ready to roll. He tries different things with his hands, placement, work on different little things that he wants to tinker with for the season. So he’s on track.”
Hitters work on their games in the spring just like pitchers do. Even the best hitters are looking for ways to improve and evolve.
And Judge, who turns 33 April 26, has been a beast in nine seasons, with 315 homers and 716 RBIs. He had career highs in 2024 with a .322 batting average and 144 RBIs while hitting 58 homers – four fewer than his American League-record showing in ‘22.