Yankees’ Ben Rice eliminated in first round of MLB Home Run Derby

PHILADELPHIA — This was Ben Rice’s first time participating in the MLB Home Run Derby, but in some ways, the Yankee slugger was right where he’s always been.

Rice stood in the batter’s box, taking swing after swing, as his father pitched to him.

The setting on Monday night was Citizens Bank Park, but it may as well have been a backfield in Rice’s hometown of Cohasset, Mass.

“We embraced every bit of it and just had a blast,” Rice said.

With his father, Dan, throwing to him, Rice came up short in the 2026 Home Run Derby, suffering a first-round elimination well before Jordan Walker defeated Kyle Schwarber in a dramatic final.

Rice hit seven home runs in the first round, the fewest of the eight participants.

But it was a memorable night nonetheless for Rice, who navigated intense adrenaline and hostile Philly fans in his introduction to the All-Star stage.

“I didn’t realize how out-front my first swings were gonna be,” said Rice, who didn’t homer until his fifth swing of the night.

“I was in the cage and I was like, ‘I’m gonna hit 20 home runs. I’m on fire right now.’ And then I took my first swing and was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going so fast right now.’ I just had to figure out a way to slow down.”

Monday night’s derby featured a significant format change.

Participants were allotted a specific number of swings — 20 in the first round, and then 15 in the second and third rounds — to hit as many home runs as they could, rather than having an unlimited number of swings in a specified time period.

This marked the first derby since 2014 to not feature a timer element.

Of the eight participants, the four with the highest first-round home run totals advanced to the second round.

Walker (13), Willson Contreras (13), Junior Caminero (12) and Schwarber (10) advanced. Munetaka Murakami (9), Bryce Harper (8) and Jac Caglianone (8) joined Rice in early elimination.

A sellout crowd of 43,863 fans was decidedly in favor of the hometown Philadelphia Phillies stars Schwarber and Harper.

Those two heard rousing cheers during their pregame introductions, while every other player was showered with boos — including Rice, whose jeers were the loudest.

“The boos were crazy, especially in the opening ceremony,” said Rice, whose longest home run was 443 feet. “It was so cool. I always like to say, ‘They don’t boo nobodies.’ It was really cool to have them rain down on me, even in the round, too. It was fun.”

The second round featured a head-to-head format, with the previous round’s home run totals dictating the seeding.

Walker (6) outlasted Caminero (5) to earn one spot in the final.

The drama began to peak during the next second-round bout, beginning with the fan-favorite Schwarber hitting nine home runs.

In true Philly-fan fashion, the crowd booed Contreras — loudly — with every swing, hoping to deter the Boston Red Sox slugger from beating Schwarber’s total. The crowd fell quiet every time Contreras cleared the wall.

The roar was near-deafening when Contreras, sitting on eight home runs, dug in for his final swing. When he popped up — clinching Schwarber’s place in the final — the audience erupted.

That set up the final between Schwarber, who leads the majors with 32 homers, and Walker, an ascending star for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Schwarber seemed to be in good shape when he hit 11 home runs in his half of the final. But Walker walked it off, homering on his final six swings to finish with 12.

“I can’t even describe how amazing it feels to win it,” Walker, 24, said. “It was a lot of swings, a lot of pressure, but I think I just had fun no matter what.”

Rice was trying to become the fifth Yankee to win the Home Run Derby, a list that includes two lefty-swinging first basemen in Tino Martinez (1997) and Jason Giambi (2002), as well as Robinson Cano (2011) and Aaron Judge (2017).

Instead, he became the second consecutive Yankee to suffer a first-round derby exit, following Jazz Chisholm Jr. last year.

Rice is in the middle of a breakout campaign. His 29 home runs — already a career high — rank third in the majors, as does his .971 OPS.

The derby kicked off a two-day All-Star extravaganza for Rice, who is set to start Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at first base after Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz bowed out due to injuries.

Rice jokingly told his father over the winter to keep his arm loose in case the Home Run Derby became a realistic possibility.

As requested, the elder Rice — who pitched for Brown University in the 1980s — stayed ready.

“That’s been a dream of ours ever since I’ve been a little kid,” Rice said. “No one’s thrown more pitches to me than him. It’s not even close. His lifetime pitch count is definitely well past its limit. But it’s a no-brainer [to ask him].”

The father-son duo prepared together with batting practice sessions at Yankee Stadium and Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

More than the results, Rice was eager to make a memory with his dad.

“I’d imagine it’s gonna go by fast, but in the week or so we’ve had leading up to today, we’ve been thinking about how cool it’s gonna be,” Rice said a few hours before the event. “That’s our mentality going into it. We’re just gonna really enjoy the moment and soak it all in the best we can.”