Ben Rice
Benjamin Kimball Rice
- Bats Left, Throws Right
- Height 6' 1", Weight 2015 lb.
- School Dartmouth College
- High School Noble and Greenough School
- Debut June 18, 2024
- Born February 22, 1999 in Cohasset, MA USA
Biographical Information[edit]
Ben Rice had been mainly a catcher in the minors when he was called up by the New York Yankees in June of 2024 to take over at first base for an injured Anthony Rizzo.
A New England boy who had grown up cheering for the Yankees in a region dominated by fans of the Boston Red Sox, he attended Dartmouth College from where he was drafted by the Bronx Bombers in the 12th round of the 2021 amateur draft. This was solely based on his performance in summer collegiate baseball, as the COVID-19 pandemic stopped his 2020 season after just 7 games, and the Ivy League did not resume playing baseball until the spring of 2022. In the Futures Collegiate Baseball League however he hit .392 in 2019 and .350 in 2020.
He began his pro career in 2021 and in 2022 he hit .267 with 9 homers and 36 RBIs for the Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League. He really staked his claim as a prospect in 2023, when played at three different levels, starting at Tampa and passing through the Hudson Valley Renegades of the South Atlantic League before ending up with the Somerset Patriots in the AA Eastern League. His slash line in 73 games was .324/.434/.615 with 20 homers and 68 RBIs. He started 2024 back at Somerset, where he hit .261 in 49 games with 12 homers and 26 RBIs. He was promoted to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders at the beginning of June but it took just 11 games for him to get the call to head to the Show. He had hit .333 with 3 homers and 10 RBIs in those 11 games.
He made his major league debut on June 18, 2024, batting 6th and starting at first base against the Baltimore Orioles. He got his first major league hit in that game, a single off Albert Suarez, and he showed a good approach at the plate over the next couple of weeks, securing his position as the starting first baseman. In fact, he appeared in only one game at catcher, catching the 9th inning of 16-5 blowout win over the Toronto Blue Jays on June 28th, but otherwise playing exclusively first base. He hit his first major league homer on July 4th, off Frankie Montas of the Cincinnati Reds then on July 6th wrote his name in the Yankees' record books when he became the first rookie in franchise history to have a three-homer game. By then, he had been promoted to lead-off hitter as Anthony Volpe had been struggling after a good start, and he led off the bottom of the 1st with a solo blast off Josh Winckowski of the Boston Red Sox. He added a pair of three-run blasts off Chase Anderson in the 5th and 7th innings to collect 7 RBIs in New York's 14-4 win. Anthony Rizzo was looking increasingly like Wally Pipp by then.
Further Reading[edit]
- Bryan Hoch: "Rice makes Yanks history with 3-HR game vs. Red Sox: Against hometown club, Rice becomes first rookie in franchise history to accomplish feat", mlb.com, July 6, 2024. [1]
- Bryan Hoch: "Before Rice beat Sox, Yanks beat them to him", mlb.com, July 8, 2024. [2]
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