Yankees slugger Ben Rice's ascension to stardom has arrived

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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’ lineup seemed like his destiny. Rice continually destroying baseballs is nothing new. The only difference is the level of attention he’s now receiving. “I’m not surprised at all that he’s doing it here in the big leagues because I saw him in Double A and Triple A do it every day,” Escarra said of their time together in 2024. “It’s a cool story because he didn’t 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’s pretty cool.” 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’re lucky, before transitioning to a career outside of baseball. It’s rare to become a full-blown star when a player is drafted that late, but Rice has emerged as one. 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. 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’s near the top of the leaderboard in chase rate after being there last season. There are not many flaws to his game. “I don’t want to pitch to him,” Yankees starter Will Warren said. “I’m sure the league doesn’t want to pitch to him either.” The Marlins made that mistake in the seventh inning of Friday’s 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. “I would have not thrown him a fastball,” Warren said. “I’m glad they did.” Ben Rice bashes a homer to the right field seats 💪 pic.twitter.com/i1xqge0AY6 Rice had only a few warts in his offensive profile entering 2026. His biggest struggle was against off-speed pitches. 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’t proven himself against non-fastballs, it’s no surprise that opposing pitchers’ early plan is to throw him fewer fastballs. He entered Friday seeing nearly 15 percent fewer fastballs this season. He’s countered by posting a 1.351 OPS against non-fastballs. It’s 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’s best hitters by season’s end. “I think Benny can really hit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think he’s a middle-of-the-order hitter and is going to be for a long time. Hopefully, that means he’s in those conversations, because he keeps getting better, too, and he’s fun to watch. He’s got a lot of confidence, rightly so.” Rice’s 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. Uhhh Ben, what? pic.twitter.com/FPFE0FdYHu — Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 3, 2026 He didn’t let those letdowns linger. That mindset over the past few seasons has impressed teammate Aaron Judge, who believes the first baseman doesn’t get phased by anything, which speaks to the confidence Boone referenced. Rice was demoted to Triple A in 2024 after enduring a 2-for-40 slump. Instead of sulking, he spent that offseason overhauling his mechanics to make sure it didn’t happen again. This past offseason, Rice spent extra time seeing breaking and off-speed pitches in the cage to become more comfortable in the batter’s box. That work ethic to always find something to improve upon is why Escarra isn’t surprised to see this version of Rice in the big leagues. And it’s why even when a day starts as poorly as it did for Rice on Friday, there’s still time for him to make his imprint on a game. “Even when things are going bad, I can always be dangerous,” Rice said. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Chris Kirschner is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New York Yankees. He previously covered the Atlanta Hawks from 2018-2022 for The Athletic. Chris was named Georgia's Sportswriter of the Year in 2021 for his work covering the Hawks. Chris is a native of Bronx, NY. Follow Chris on Twitter @chriskirschner