Ben Rice Will Have Erased All Memory of Slump by the All-Star Break

Ben Rice was scuffling heading into the series with the Tampa Bay Rays. He looked more like the player who struggled after starting hot in 2024, hitting .200/.298/.391 with a 91 wRC+ since the beginning of June. On top of that, Rice posted a -0.1 WAR during this span and, statistically, was a net negative for the New York Yankees.

Something flipped, though, and while the Yankees failed to make up ground in the American League East, it was Rice's power that kept them within four games of first place. Rice blasted four and had nine RBI in the series.

The 0.5 WAR he tacked on in this four-game set against Tampa blew right by what he did over the last 40 days. This was a solid Rays pitching staff, with a 3.82 team ERA, and it looked like Rice handled them with relative ease.

Now that the Yankees have left the Trop and are off to Washington D.C. to face the Nationals, there's a shot here for Rice to do more damage. Unlike the Rays, Washington has one of the worst staffs in all of baseball.

The potential to feast off the Washington Nationals

The Nationals have a team ERA of 4.77. That's the fifth-worst in MLB.

If there is one thing the Nationals struggle with, it's giving up the long ball. Their 1.39 home runs per nine innings are also the fifth-worst in baseball. Their 13.3% home run rate on fly balls is the fourth-worst.

This is a real opportunity for the Yankees, and, Rice specifically, to crush baseballs the way he has over the last week. It would make up for his prolonged slump that began in June. Not that he was worried about it.

"Like I've said in the past, it's such a long year," Rice said, according to SNY's Robert Sanchez. "You're bound to go through the ups and downs. Just leaning on the guys in the clubhouse and the locker room and go out here and just have an approach, stick to it, be convicted in it, and hopefully good things will happen."

Robin needs to be Batman for now

With Aaron Judge out for the foreseeable future and a realistic possibility that he will not be 100% when he returns from the IL, the Yankees need Rice to carry the offense. It's unfair to have such an expectation of a young player who is in his second full season in the big leagues after breaking out last season, but this is the situation he has been put in due to the rash of injuries that has hit the team.

With Batman out, Gotham needs its Robin to put on the cowl. This Boy Wonder certainly has all the tools to do so. That Baseball Savant page has a ton of red, after all.

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