Key Ben Rice Stats Show His Beast-Mode Start Isn't a Fluke

Ever since Ben Rice arrived on the scene, the Yankees were fond of citing some of the stuff "under the hood" about his plate appearances, pointing to advanced metrics such as exit velocity and hard hit rate.

Those things did not necessarily translate to sustained production, though the Yankees always believed the metrics would ultimately result in better standard numbers.

Rice gave a glimpse of his capabilities with a strong final two months of last season. His 21-game sample size this season is starting to reveal a potential All-Star, along with a younger player to support Aaron Judge's power.

Rice heads into the Yankees' first trip to Fenway Park among the leaders in several offensive categories.

He is among five players with at least eight homers (Jordan Walker, Munetaka Murakami, Judge and Yordan Alvarez). His 18 RBIs are the most on the Yankees and his .338 average is one ahead of Yandy Diaz for the AL lead.

"It's just been a steady ascent for him," manager Aaron Boone said.

Why the Yankees cited metrics when discussing Rice

Rice originally debuted June 18, 2024, two days after Anthony Rizzo broke his forearm in a collision with Boston reliever Brennan Bernadino at first base at Fenway Park.

While his overall production of .171 with seven homers and 23 RBIs was hardly anything to get excited about, Rice did show the potential with a three-homer game against the Red Sox on July 7, 2024.

Even with the low average, the Yankees liked other things about the Dartmouth product's bat. They liked his average exit velocity of 90 mph along with a hard-hit rate of 36.7%

Last season, Rice showed some strong signs in the final two months when he batted .281 after the All-Star break and finished a .255 average along with 26 homers and 65 RBIs in 138 games.

With the improved standard numbers making him attractive for fantasy baseball owners, those were enhanced by some of the advanced metrics. Rice's average exit velocity increased to 93.3 mph, his hard-hit rate increased to 56.1% and his strikeout rate dropped to 18.9% among the 2,047 pitches he saw.

On Sunday, Rice homered for the fourth straight game while leading off ahead of Judge, and the Yankees enjoyed one of those games where they were never threatened, and it was apparent they were going to win immediately after getting the lead.

Rice also set up Judge's latest homer by seeing six pitches in a full-count walk, increasing his walk rate to 21.4%, and the home run in the second inning gave him an AL-best hard-hit rate of 64.8%, slightly ahead of Nick Kurtz.

"Just quality at-bat after quality at-bat," Judge said. "Doesn't matter who's on the mound or what the situation is: He's working a five-, six- or seven-pitch at-bat. Or, if you give a mistake early in an at-bat to him, he's going to hit it.

"It's just been impressive to see him take his walks when he can, come up with a big hit when we need it and keep passing the baton when we need it. It's impressive."

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Rice surging against lefties

The Yankees tend to adhere to platoon splits in many games when facing left-handed pitching, and last Tuesday, when they faced left-hander Reid Detmers, Rice did not start.

Over the weekend, Rice saw at-bats against Kansas City left-handers Noah Cameron and Cole Ragans and homered off both.

Those hits gave him a .353 (6-for-17) average against lefties. Last year, Rice was a .208 hitter against lefties, including .164 versus left-handed starters, while batting .269 off right-handers.

"I just got to continue to get the reps [against southpaws] and continue to swing at good pitches, work good at-bats," said Rice, who also has a 1.332 OPS against lefties. "That's all I can do."

Last season went 1-for-8 off Boston left-hander Garrett Crochet and did not start against him in Game 1 of the wild-card series. After he homered in Game 2 against right-hander Brayan Bello and scorched a flyball out against southpaw reliever Justin Wilson, that was seemingly good enough to get him into the lineup for Game 3 against left-hander Connelly Early.

Going into this season, it seemed Rice would sit against certain lefties, and he still might to give Paul Goldschmidt at-bats. Goldschmidt was brought back to mentor Rice at first base and hit lefties, posting a .336 mark against southpaws.

Based on the smallish sample, it is hard to keep Rice out of the lineup, and those with him on their fantasy teams are enjoying the real numbers he is producing for the Yankees, who are on pace to win around 95 games.

Related: Aaron Judge Shares Opinion After Yankees Quiet Offseason

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This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 11:30 AM.