{"id":572615,"date":"2026-02-14T18:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/572615\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T18:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T18:32:16","slug":"ny-yankees-paul-goldschmidt-reportedly-embraces-new-role-heading-into-the-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/572615\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Yankees&#8217; Paul Goldschmidt reportedly embraces new role heading into the 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After serving as the primary first baseman last season, <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/paul-goldschmidt\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Paul Goldschmidt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Paul Goldschmidt<\/a> is shifting focus with the <a href=\"https:\/\/bolavip.com\/en\/topic\/new-york-yankees\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"New York Yankees\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Yankees<\/a>. The veteran is taking on a mentorship role to help develop Ben Rice, who is adjusting to first base after spending most of his career as a catcher.<\/p>\n<p>In a report by Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Goldschmidt is embracing the new responsibility. \u201cGoldschmidt is embracing his new role. He remembers when he wasn\u2019t the smoothest first baseman during his minor-league days, and how he began to excel when he started giving it the same type of effort he put into his hitting\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cGoldschmidt said he had valuable infield coaches throughout the minors, but few of them had played first base every day and knew the nuances of the trade like the veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    Goldschmidt sees potential in Ben Rice <\/p>\n<p>Rice remains in the process of learning first base, with his offensive abilities already established, but his defense is the primary area of focus. Goldschmidt shared confidence in Rice\u2019s skills: \u201cI don\u2019t know much about catching, but at first base, I think he\u2019s got all the physical and mental skills to do it. As he gets more of an opportunity, he\u2019s going to keep getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"i-amphtml-intrinsic-sizer\" role=\"presentation\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwODAiIHdpZHRoPSIxOTIwIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIvPg==\"\/> Paul Goldschmidt #48 of the New York Yankees reacts after leading off with a double. Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images Rice to get ample reps in spring training  <\/p>\n<p>The Yankees plan to provide Rice with as many opportunities as possible during spring training to develop his defensive game. Goldschmidt\u2019s guidance aims to accelerate Rice\u2019s growth at first base while also fostering a culture of veteran leadership within the infield.<\/p>\n<p>SURVEY Do you think Ben Rice will be ready to handle first base regularly this season?<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-poll__title-wrapper__question-xs jsx-3883365378\">Do you think Ben Rice will be ready to handle first base regularly this season?<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-poll__vote-counter article-poll__vote-counter-6990a637d1eb01dac3090da9 jsx-3883365378\">already voted 2 fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After serving as the primary first baseman last season, Paul Goldschmidt is shifting focus with the New York&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,4,1690,62,2548,2547,118,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-572615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-yankees","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkyankees","14":"tag-paul-goldschmidt","15":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116070419453895851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}