Could New Yankees Star Ben Rice Really Be One of MLB's Best Hitters?

The New York Yankees lost a veteran first baseman in the off-season, but his replacement looks like he could be one of the game's next big stars.

Apr 12, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first base Ben Rice (22) celebrates with outfielder Aaron Judge (99) after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. | Tom Horak-Imagn Images

The New York Yankees have a mixed track record of developing young hitters over the past decade.

The early success of Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez in the 2010s has given way to some disappointing development of top hitting prospets ever since.

Once-promising prospects like Clint Frazier, Oswald Peraza and others have gotten chances in recent years and not been able to run with them, though Austin Wells' recent success has been a boon.

That has led general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman to look to external options to add dynamic hitters. Over the past eight years, he's acquired stars like Giancarlo Stanton, Juan Soto, Anthony Rizzo, Paul Goldschmidt, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger in his pursuit of building a World Series championship-caliber lineup.

Now, it looks like New York may finally have another homegrown superstar on its hands in first baseman Ben Rice.

Rice debuted in 2024, hitting seven home runs but posting a subpar slash line of .171/.264/.349. With extra opportunity for at-bats available in 2025, the 26-year-old showed up to spring training and showed off his improvement.

He clubbed five homers throughout spring while producing an OPS of .835, locking up his spot on the Opening Day roster in the process.

Goldschmidt has had the first base position secured, but the absence of the injured slugger Giancarlo Stanton has left opportunities available for Rice as a designated hitter.

The Massachusetts native has taken that opportunity and run with it, slashing .310/.431/.690 while hitting four homers. His OPS+ 221 means that he's more than lapped the league average hitter in the key offensive metric.

It would be easy to look at these gaudy numbers and write them off as an unsustainable run of good luck, and while the overall production may not be sustainable, it's certainly not lucky.

Rice's Baseball Savant data to this point in the season paints the picture of a truly elite hitter fully deserving of his jaw-dropping numbers.

He currently sits in the 100th percentile in xSLG, xwOBA, average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate.

Not only is Rice crushing the ball when he makes contact, but he's also showcasing good discipline on when to unleash those punishing swings.

He's in the 96th percentile in chase rate, meaning he's spitting on pitches outside the zone, and he's 94th percentile with a walk rate of 17.6%.

His ability to get on base and demolish the ball has helped keep the Yankees offense in the top spot in all of MLB in slugging and wRC+, and if the team can figure out its pitching, Rice's contributions will help the team rack up wins as the season rolls on.