Ben Rice has become the player the Yankees turn to for offense this season, leading New York in virtually every major hitting category and sitting tied for the team lead with 17 home runs.
Rice, 27, tops the Yankees with 62 hits, 15 doubles, 44 RBIs, 132 total bases and 46 runs scored. He leads the club in batting average (.300), on-base percentage (.393), slugging (.638) and OPS (1.031), and his 184 OPS+ also paces the roster. Those numbers aren’t just team-best — Rice’s.638 slugging, 1.031 OPS, 184 OPS+ and.435 weighted on-base average all rank second in MLB.
The production shows in game-to-game impact: Rice has collected a hit in 40 games, has 16 multi-hit games including five three-plus-hit nights, and has amassed 2.7 offensive WAR, a figure that ties him with Otto Lopez and Kevin McGonigle for seventh in the majors. His raw power and contact quality back up the counting stats — a 92.3 mph average exit velocity in the 90th percentile, a 50.7% hard-hit rate in the 91st percentile and a 17.1% barrel rate that sits in the 95th percentile of MLB.
Rice has made 34 starts and 37 appearances at first base this year, but he’s also been New York’s designated hitter in 19 games. That split role highlights the underlying friction around his breakout: his bat is producing at an MVP-caliber clip, yet the Yankees have occasionally used him as a DH while discussions continue about how best to balance roster needs — including conversations inside the club about whether to reconfigure positions to address the team’s catching situation.
Context sharpens the stakes. One national outlet recently said Rice would be a likely AL MVP finalist if voting were held today, and his current pace projects toward home-run totals that would outstrip the single-season marks for some notable Yankees first basemen — a pace that has even drawn comparisons to franchise benchmarks such as Tino Martinez’s 1997 season and the long-shadow records of Lou Gehrig.
Rice’s breakout hasn’t come in isolation. He and several younger Yankees have risen through the same organizational currents that produced unexpected contributors in previous seasons; for more on how internal talent has surfaced this year, see the profile on Bailey Falter and Cam Schlittler, Bailey Falter: How Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler Became the Yankees' In-House Stars.
That context also creates a real decision point for the Yankees. Rice’s presence in the lineup — whether tucked at first base or slotted as the DH — alters the club’s options for defense, catcher deployment and bench construction. The team’s choice will be watched closely because Rice’s offensive ledger is one of the clearest available levers to improve run production on a day-to-day basis.
The immediate test comes Saturday night: the Yankees host the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium at 7:35 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app. How the Yankees use Rice in that game — first base or DH, regular spot in the lineup or a managed rest day — will be read as more than a single lineup move. It will indicate whether New York plans to keep Rice tethered to everyday work at first base while preserving options behind the plate, or to shift him into a role that safeguards his bat but complicates defensive balance.
Rice’s numbers make the choice unavoidable. He’s tied with Aaron Judge and Matt Olson for elite power placement in the league, he’s walking into late-inning situations as the game’s decisive bat, and the unanswered question is simple: can this breakout pace hold as pitchers adjust and the season grinds on? The answer will shape both Rice’s candidacy for postseason awards and how the Yankees build around the hottest hitter on their roster.
