NEW YORK — Prospect Ben Rice received a FaceTime call from Triple-A manager Shelley Duncan at 10 p.m. Monday, informing him to forget about the team’s schedule for the following day because he was headed to the Bronx to make his MLB debut for the New York Yankees.
Before Tuesday, Rice, who went 1-for-4 in his debut, had never set foot in Yankee Stadium. He described the state-of-the-art clubhouse and stadium environment “as advertised.” Now, he’ll get an opportunity to be the Yankees’ first baseman for the foreseeable future. Anthony Rizzo was placed on the injured list with a right forearm fracture, sidelining him from baseball activities for four to five weeks. The Yankees estimate Rizzo will return to game action, meaning a rehab assignment, in eight weeks. With that timeline, it’s possible the Yankees won’t have Rizzo back until late August or early September, so long as Rizzo avoids setbacks.
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Rizzo’s injury opened an opportunity for Rice, the Yankees’ 2023 winner of the Kevin Lawn Award as the best position player in the Yankees’ minor league system, to prove he belongs in the majors. It’s an unusually quick call-up for Rice, who played just 11 games in Triple A before making his debut. With his bat alone, it’s a warranted move.
That moment when you get called up to The Big Leagues: pic.twitter.com/8Ffu2sQwzq
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 18, 2024
In 60 games between Double A and Triple A this season, Rice hit 15 home runs, 12 doubles and posted a .925 OPS, good for a 155 wRC+. He’s been one of the best hitters across all levels of the minor leagues since his breakout last season, posting a 171 wRC+ since 2023, the fifth-highest mark for all minor-league hitters with at least 300 plate appearances.
“When you watch him take an at-bat, it looks like a big at-bat,” Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus said. “It’s hard to quantify. But when you’ve been around big-league hitters for long periods, you watch a guy hit and you can tell that that’s a big-league at-bat. He’s taking the right pitches; he’s swinging and attacking the right pitches; he’s making the pitcher work; Ben does that.”
Since spring training, the Yankees have been adamant that Rice will become an impact bat at the major-league level. The bigger question is how will his glove look in the majors? Rice is a catcher by trade who has just 55 career minor-league games at first base.
“I feel good over there,” Rice recently said. “It’s a learning process, like any other position would be. Infield is not something that’s totally foreign to me. I used to play second base a lot when I was younger. So it’s really just continuing to get reps over there. It’s just like anything. You just gotta keep going out there and keep seeing balls come off the bat, getting grounders, knowing where to be on the field in different situations. But I definitely like the improvements I’ve made over there so far.”
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Even with the lack of experience at first base, the Yankees made the right decision in calling Rice up now. They could have easily decided to slide DJ LeMahieu over to first base with Oswaldo Cabrera taking over third base. They could have called up Oswald Peraza or Kevin Smith as an extra bench infielder. Instead, the Yankees are taking advantage of what’s essentially a free six-week look to see if Rice belongs and whether they’ll need to add a first baseman ahead of the trade deadline.
The last time the Yankees promoted one of their homegrown prospects to replace an injured veteran, it turned out to be the right decision. In 2015, the Yankees promoted Greg Bird, then the team’s No. 4 prospect, to replace Mark Teixeira when he fractured his shin that season. Bird played 46 games to end the year and finished with an .872 OPS.
But the Yankees don’t need that level of production out of Rice to make this a successful move. The Yankees’ 87 wRC+ at first base is the seventh-worst mark in MLB this season. Their minus-2 defensive runs saved is tied for eighth-worst in MLB. Rizzo’s .630 OPS is the second-worst for all first basemen with at least 200 plate appearances, behind demoted Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson. Rizzo was an offensive and defensive negative, which should alleviate pressure on Rice to come in and be a savior. But if he continues to hit, as he’s done at every level so far, the Yankees’ lineup should be even more formidable.
“He knows what he wants to do getting up to the plate,” Double-A hitting coach Kevin Martir recently said. “He trains really hard. He’s doing his homework the night before on the starting pitcher, even relievers. Also, the guy’s like a live camera. He remembers everything from the at-bat before or an at-bat a year before — ‘I remember this guy. He did this, this and that.’ That’s really hard to come by.”
What looms over all of this is Rizzo’s future in pinstripes. The veteran has a $17 million club option for 2025, which seems unlikely to be picked up. The Yankees could make a drastic decision by designating Rizzo for assignment by Aug. 30, the deadline to request waivers on a player. Rizzo is a respected voice inside the clubhouse and is close with captain Aaron Judge. Still, if the organization believes his roster spot is more valuable, it’s a move the Yankees could consider.
That’s a long way from now and it remains to be seen if Rice will excel in the big leagues. In the meantime, the next six weeks will be critical for Rice to prove to general manager Brian Cashman that he doesn’t need another first baseman.
(Photo: Adam Hunger / Getty Images)