Who is Ben Rice? Yankees first baseman makes team history with 3-home run game vs. Red Sox

By | July 6, 2024
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The Yankees entered Saturday looking like a team that needed a spark. They found one in the most unlikely of places.

Ben Rice blasted not one, not two, but three home runs against the Red Sox, driving in seven runs in a stunning showcase of power. The Yankees had lost four consecutive games entering the weekend.

Rice only received a major-league opportunity when Anthony Rizzo fractured his arm in a collision during a game against the Red Sox in June. Rizzo had been struggling mightily, and the arrival of Rice was a chance to inject some youth into a lineup that was struggling to coalesce around its two stars.

While New York has seen mixed results in recent weeks, Rice doesn’t appear to be going anywhere after his dominant showing against the Yankees’ AL East rival.

Here’s what you need to know about Rice and how he found his way to the Yankees.

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Who is Ben Rice?

Rice is a former 12th-round draft pick who made his MLB debut with the Yankees in June. New York selected him with the No. 363 overall pick of the 2021 draft, and he has since established himself as the team’s 12th-ranked prospect, per MLB.com.

The Yankees have plenty of resources to sign internationally-born players and have found some gems in the first round of the MLB Draft, including Aaron Judge and Clarke Schmidt, but it’s extraordinarily rare for a 12th-round pick to find his way to the majors. Rice simply left the Yankees without a choice.

All Rice has done since the start of the 2022 season is hit. He hit nine home runs with an .810 OPS over 68 minor-league games in 2022, and he came back in 2023 with a stellar 1.048 OPS between 73 games at three different levels.

Rice started the 2024 season with a .275 AVG, 15 home runs and a .925 OPS, showing no signs of slowing down after he was promoted to Triple-A. Despite playing only 11 games above Double-A, Rice got the call from the Yankees with limited options at first base and has made the most of it.

Rice isn’t a natural first baseman. He was drafted as a catcher, but proving he can play competently at first base opened up his path to the majors much sooner than he might have otherwise made it. 

Rice had a limited college career, which likely contributed to his low stock entering the 2021 draft. Because the Ivy League canceled the 2021 season, Rice played just 30 games at the collegiate level. The Yankees took a chance anyway, and it’s worked out. 

How old is Ben Rice?

Rice is 25 years old. He’s set to turn 26 in February.

While Rice was performing well at the lower levels of the minor leagues, he didn’t put himself on the radar as a highly-regarded prospect because he was generally older than the rest of the competition.

With offense hard to come by at times in the majors, though, just about any player can hit his way into an opportunity. Rice just kept hitting, and he’s proving now that his bat can translate to the highest level.

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Where did Ben Rice go to college?

Rice spent his college career at Dartmouth. His father also played Ivy League baseball, attending Brown University. 

Rice only played 30 games at Dartmouth because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which cut the 2020 season short and pushed the Ivy League to break from much of the NCAA and scrap the 2021 season altogether.

Ben Rice stats

Minor-league stats

Season Level(s) Games AVG HR RBI OPS
2021 Rk, A 23 .197 3 13 .709
2022 A 68 .267 9 36 .810
2023 A, A+, AA 73 .324 20 68 1.048
2024 AA, AAA 60 .275 15 36 .925
Career   224 .284 47 153 .920

MLB stats

Season Team Games AVG HR RBI OPS
2024 Yankees 17 .294 4 12 .971

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