NEW YORK \u2014 When they were playing in front of just hundreds of fans on the road in the minor leagues, J.C. Escarra always thought this outcome was possible for Ben Rice. Even then, being swarmed by reporters after a home-opening 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins and batting in the middle of the New York Yankees\u2019 lineup seemed like his destiny.<\/p>\n
Rice continually destroying baseballs is nothing new. The only difference is the level of attention he\u2019s now receiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not surprised at all that he\u2019s doing it here in the big leagues because I saw him in Double A and Triple A do it every day,\u201d Escarra said of their time together in 2024. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool story because he didn\u2019t really play much college ball. He was a late draft pick, and for him to become better than all the first-round picks and all the big names, it\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rice was taken 363rd overall in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Dartmouth and given a $125,000 signing bonus. The usual trajectory for players drafted that low is to become organizational filler in the minors, maybe have a cup of coffee in the majors if they\u2019re lucky, before transitioning to a career outside of baseball. It\u2019s rare to become a full-blown star when a player is drafted that late, but Rice has emerged as one.<\/p>\n
By wRC+, Rice was a top-10 hitter in the American League in 2025. That was with some of the worst batted-ball luck in the league<\/a>. Few hitters are as well-rounded as Rice. He has nine hits this season, and every one of them has been considered hard, with an average exit velocity of more than 95 mph. He\u2019s near the top of the leaderboard in chase rate after being there last season. There are not many flaws to his game.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to pitch to him,\u201d Yankees starter Will Warren said. \u201cI\u2019m sure the league doesn\u2019t want to pitch to him either.\u201d<\/p>\n The Marlins made that mistake in the seventh inning of Friday\u2019s game. Reliever Michael Petersen threw Rice a fastball up in the zone that he crushed foul. The righty thought he might fool Rice with the same pitch again, but he was the one who ended up looking silly. Rice hammered it over the wall at 110.9 mph for his second home run of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cI would have not thrown him a fastball,\u201d Warren said. \u201cI\u2019m glad they did.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Rice bashes a homer to the right field seats \ud83d\udcaa pic.twitter.com\/i1xqge0AY6<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 MLB (@MLB) April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Rice had only a few warts in his offensive profile entering 2026. His biggest struggle was against off-speed pitches.<\/p>\n In 2025, Rice had a .691 OPS against all off-speed pitches. In 2026, his first home run of the season was on an off-speed pitch in the last series against the Seattle Mariners. His combined OPS against breaking and off-speed pitches last season was .750. Knowing that Rice hasn\u2019t proven himself against non-fastballs, it\u2019s no surprise that opposing pitchers\u2019 early plan is to throw him fewer fastballs. He entered Friday seeing nearly 15 percent fewer fastballs this season. He\u2019s countered by posting a 1.351 OPS against non-fastballs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s too early to draw sweeping conclusions, but if Rice has figured out that part of his game, he could end up becoming one of MLB\u2019s best hitters by season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Benny can really hit,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cI think he\u2019s a middle-of-the-order hitter and is going to be for a long time. Hopefully, that means he\u2019s in those conversations, because he keeps getting better, too, and he\u2019s fun to watch. He\u2019s got a lot of confidence, rightly so.\u201d<\/p>\n Rice\u2019s day at the plate started poorly against the Marlins. He struck out in each of his first three at-bats, but finished the game 2-for-5 with a home run, double and three RBIs. His first three strikeouts included challenging a pitch he thought was a ball that was squarely in the strike zone and getting called out on a checked swing.<\/p>\n Uhhh Ben, what? pic.twitter.com\/FPFE0FdYHu<\/a><\/p>\n