Ben Rice's Offensive Turnaround Is Exactly What the Yankees Need

The New York Yankees needed Ben Rice to turn it around just before the postseason.

New York Yankees designated hitter Ben Rice is starting to hit his stride, which is what the team needed to see with the regular season winding down. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Yankees had a chance to take the first game in the series against the San Diego Padres, and for all the reasons that didn't happen — an inept offense on Friday night was at the top of the list — Ben Rice deserves zero blame. In this series alone, Rice has back-to-back three-hit games with a home run in the opener against Walker Buehler.

The home run against Buehler was part of an elongated hot streak that dates back to the latter portion of August. Since August 19th, Rice has 22 hits in his last 73 plate appearances. He's slashing .349/.438/.524 with a 175 wRC+. He has three home runs and 10 RBI.

NYY - Ben Rice Solo HR (36)

📏 444 ft | 💨 108.6 mph | 📐 26°
⚾️ 87.2 mph slider (SDP - RHP Walker Buehler)
🏟️ Out in 30/30 parks 💣

NYY (1) @ SDP (1)
🔺 3rd#RepBX pic.twitter.com/bhLGyBYV55

— MLB Home Runs (@MLBHRs_) September 5, 2026

With eight multi-hit games in Rice's last 16, his manager, Aaron Boone, made a shining comparison to one San Diego legend — a fitting depiction of the slugger considering where they're situated right now.

"I told him, he’s doing his Tony Gwynn imitation," Boone said, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. “Watching him slash it all over the field, man, he keeps hitting it off the barrel – line to line, it feels like.”

Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres hitting against the Florida Marlins at Pro Player Stadium | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Rice's struggles should be behind him

Not only did the Yankees need that surge, but Rice did, too. Heading into August 19th, and since Judge went down, Rice had struggled for the majority of the captain's IL stint. During that span, he hit .204/.299/.428 with a 102 wRC+ in 284 plate appearances. He had something of a power outage, too. He hit 16 home runs, but just six doubles and a triple.

There are probably a medley of reasons why Rice turned it around. He may have tinkered with something on the side that the Yankees haven't made public. One more obvious guess, though, is that Cody Bellinger returned to the lineup recently and finally gave Rice some protection.

A majority of those multi-hit games came once Bellinger was activated. With Aaron Judge back soon, Rice might even hit another gear, because there may not be better protection in the league than he. Rice was at his best with Judge right there in the lineup with him, too. He hit .268/.357/.564 with a 153 wRC+.

A majority of Rice's 36 homers came during that span, as he hit 23 with Judge in the lineup.

As long as the Yankees stay healthy, the version of them that struggled to put up runs should be behind them. And if that's the case, Rice might end up being the offensive catalyst he was at the start of the year, with those struggles in the middle portion a distant memory.

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