The Yankees have an MLB-ready bat waiting for them in Somerset

Ben Rice was one of the most talked about names in the Yankees farm system after a 2023 campaign in which he hit 16 home runs in just 48 games for the Somerset Patriots. A power hitter with the contact rates and power to put up big hitting numbers, he has an excellent combination of offensive skills that carry a high profile. When the Yankees were at their best in 2017-18, they were a team infused with talented young prospects, and while it’s not a guarantee that any prospect will succeed, Rice has the profile to immediately translate to the major leagues .

One of the best hitters in Minor League Baseball, Yankees could seriously bolster his roster with Ben Rice, as he seems far too overqualified for the Eastern League at this point.

Could the Yankees soon consider promoting Ben Rice?

Last season, Ben Rice put on an absolute show in Double-A with a 182 wRC+ and .648 SLG% and impressive contact rates to go along with it. He ultimately went through a rough patch to start the season this year, as he struck out 27.9% of the time with a 52 wRC+ over his first nine games, but since then he has a 237 wRC+ and 20.8% strikeout. He’s also walking at a whopping 18.1% rate over that span, and while that may be due to fear of Eastern League pitchers, it also indicates a willingness to take walks that pitchers are giving him .

The biggest flaw that most people point out in his game is the lack of defensive position, as he is not considered a good enough catcher or experienced enough first baseman to secure a role in the MLB in this moment. While these are legitimate criticisms of his game, the biggest flaw in my opinion came from how he performed against left-handed pitchers last season, as Ben Rice seemed destined for a starting role. strong platoon. This season, he’s not only holding his own against southpaws, but instead, he’s downright dominating these matchups.

Almost doubling your OPS is incredible, and while the Yankees will have to wait and see how this performs at the Major League level, it’s a massive shift in the right direction. Now you can play Ben Rice against a pitcher of the same player and be sure he’ll hold up, eliminating any talk of him being purely a platoon bat at this point in his professional career. There are plenty of reasons to believe that Ben Rice can become a threat at the major league level right now, and some projection systems support that notion.

In a previous article regarding the first base position, I discussed how Ben Rice had similar ZiPS projections to Ben Rice. Anthony Rizzo, who has since had an absolute tear when frequently shooting the ball in the air. While the underlying metrics aren’t great for the veteran first baseman, I think he’s made legitimate changes to sell out on removed contacts and squeeze more power out of his aging profile. As previously mentioned, Ben Rice probably doesn’t have the professional experience to justify playing him there full time, an oversight in my article that I didn’t account for.

That being said, with Rizzo able to anchor himself at the first base position, all eyes are on Giancarlo Stanton, who has a 0.1 fWAR in 31 games. There just isn’t much left in the tank it seems as he’s trying to do the exact same thing as Rizzo, but he may not have the physical tools he once had. It’s unfortunate, but the Yankees can’t produce a league-average hitter with 7th percentile sprint speeds and a -1.2 on-base value on the fangraphs.

This is 99% Ben Rice and 1% hope that because I posted this article, Giancarlo Stanton continues the same tear that Anthony Rizzo did after posting the first base article.

READ MORE: Yankees Could Look Internally to Address Potential Problem at First Base

In terms of the immediate value Ben Rice could bring, Steamer has his projected wRC+ number at 109, which would be a marginal improvement over Giancarlo Stanton, but the baseline gap is likely huge. Ben Rice had 11 interceptions in 14 attempts last year in 73 MiLB games, and he’s already 4-4 in attempts this season. I don’t think he’s necessarily an aggressive baserunner (or a good one), but I think he has enough speed to take advantage of double steals, slow pitchers, or beat slow rollers.

The kind of hitter I would compare Ben Rice to is Kerry Carpenter, who has a 122 wRC+ and .470 SLG% in his MLB career after exploding onto the scene in Double-A. The Tigers found their DH of the future with him, as he is one of the most underrated left-handed hitters in the sport, and if the Yankees got that kind of result from Ben Rice, then we’re looking at one. of the most dynamic teams in the American League. According to ZiPS, that would take about an 80th percentile result to happen, but he’s certainly a hitter to have that kind of confidence in.

If the Yankees roll the dice on Ben Rice, they could end up with a very quality bat at a position they don’t have serious production at, and that would offset the cost of Stanton’s contract on the payroll. This is a for-now, long-term decision with a chance for Rice to finally reclaim first base and become the Yankees’ primary option there in 2025.