Can Yankees Young Star Rise to Top of MLB Rankings?

Is it possible for Ben Rice become the best player in baseball? To even have a realistic shot, he would have to have a better season than both Shohei Ohtani and his own teammate on the New York Yankees, Aaron Judge.

At first glance, it is a ridiculous notion to think a first baseman would usurp some of the game's best players. In Rice's breakout season, he posted a 133 wRC+ with 26 homers and had a 3 WAR, according to Fangraphs. These are great numbers but Ohtani and Judge became three-win players long before the All-Star break.

New York Yankees catcher Ben Rice and outfielder Aaron Judg — Aug 25, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees catcher Ben Rice (22) celebrates with designated hitter Aaron Judge (99) after hitting a solo home run in the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Of course, while it does not seem possible for Rice to claim such a title, he was named as one of the ten darkhorse candidates with the potential to do so for MLB.com.

Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru made a case for Rice at number five.

Rice the Darkhorse

"No one in their right mind would take a first baseman off the board with so many shortstops and center fielders still available," Sepe-Chepuru writes. "But we’re speculating here, so let’s say by this time next year, Rice is a full-time catcher -- it isn’t out of the question, and it gives him that premier position bonus that separates, for example, Cal Raleigh (No. 4) from Kyle Schwarber (No. 17)"

Sepe-Chepuru then compares Rice's underlying metrics to those of stars in previous seasons.

"His batted ball data suggests he actually got a raw deal," Sepe-Chepuru continued.

"On the one hand, it's possible none of this means anything. On the other, those numbers are reminiscent of a few other recent seasons we didn't think much about at the time -- say, for example, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 2023 (.444 SLG, .509 xSLG in his age 24 season), Ronald Acuña Jr.'s 2022 (.413 SLG, .496 xSLG in his age 24 season) or Aaron Judge's 2021 (.544 SLG, .601 xSLG in his age 29 season)."

A Case to Crack the Top Ten List

Rice may not become the best player in baseball, but it would not stun anybody if he did take a leap as one of the premier sluggers in the sport at the very least. He ran into plenty of bad luck in 2025.

Batters hurt by the best fielding in 2025, by FRV from Baseball Savant: pic.twitter.com/k1jDlSVUIn
— The WARmonger (@TheWARmonger_) January 9, 2026

The underlying metrics told a different story than what's on the back of Rice's baseball card. He hit .255, but his expected batting average was .283. He had a .499 slugging, but it was well under his .557 expected slugging. Rice also underperformed by a large margin in xwOBA. He had a .358 wOBA and .394 xwOBA.

The best player in baseball would be a stretch, but is it so wild to think Rice at least cracks MLB's top 10 players list? Behind Ohtani and Judge this year were the likes of Bobby Witt Jr., Cal Raleigh, Jose Ramirez, Juan Soto, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Corbin Carroll, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Barring injury, Rice likely won't have a better season than Ohtani, Judge, Soto, Witt, Raleigh, Skenes, and Skubal. Also, unless Carroll has a down season as he did in 2024, a first baseman won't leapfrog a power-hitting centerfielder.

Still, it seems possible for him to be as good or better than Ramirez, who hit .283/.360/.503 with a 133 wRC+ and 30 homers last season. Granted, Ramirez is an excellent defender, and that is also being taken into account in the previous season's rankings.

Guerrero's 2025, though, may be the most attainable. Guerrero gets overrated on the MLB.com list because of his playoff run, but last season he hit .292/.381/.467 with a 137 wRC+ and 23 home runs. If Rice lives up to his expected stats in year two, he would easily leapfrog Guerrero in 2026.

Of course, this would all be contingent on both Guerrero and Ramirez having repeat seasons at the plate. These are stars, and they could just as easily have better seasons than their own most recent years.

Rankings aside, it will be interesting to see what Rice does in general. His jump from year one to year two showed a lot of promise.

Ben rice baseball soon , we all witness pic.twitter.com/CidFO01abd
— Ben Rice Lover (@Benriceloverr) January 27, 2026

Rice got off to a hot start in his rookie campaign. He then fell off and hit for a 74 wRC+ in 178 plate appearances.

In year two, Rice hit so well that he found himself starting in the postseason over former MVP Paul Goldschmidt. If Rice is taking that type of leap in his second season, what does 2026 look like?

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