From Ivy League catcher to Yankees' cleanup hitter: The under-the-radar rise of Ben Rice

NEW YORK -- Will Warren observed Ben Rice's under-the-radar rise through professional baseball firsthand after they were drafted four rounds apart in 2021.

The New York Yankees' right-hander watched Rice, then a full-time catcher out of Dartmouth, terrorize pitchers at every level without much fanfare until he reached the big leagues in June 2024. Last year, he watched Rice crush baseballs to all fields, only for the results to not fully reflect the process. So, what Warren and the rest of the baseball world are seeing this season isn't surprising.

"Ben Rice is averaging out right now," Warren said with a smile.

It is early, very early, but Rice is 12-for-37 with three home runs, 11 RBIs and 11 walks through 11 games as the Yankees' primary cleanup hitter. He's among the major league leaders in traditional metrics, such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and in modern metrics, such as xwOBA and hard-hit percentage. He managed the Yankees' only hit Thursday as their offense scuffled in a second straight loss to the Athletics.

On a roster with expensive stars, future Hall of Famers and hyped former prospects, Rice, 27, has emerged from relative obscurity to establish himself as one of the most pivotal players on a World Series contender in just his second full major league season.

"You're starting to see what we saw last year where some of the balls he was hitting hard weren't falling," Yankees hitting coach James Rowson said. "This year, he's getting those hits. And then, it's the experience he has from one more year in the league. He knows he belongs in this league, and it takes some time to get there. When you first get to this league, you're trying to feel your way around it. But now, you watch him, he knows he can hit here. He knows he belongs here."

Rice displayed his skill set during his first two seasons in the majors. As a rookie in 2024, he clubbed three home runs on the Fourth of July at Yankee Stadium against his hometown Boston Red Sox, though he grew up a Yankee fan 20 miles from Fenway Park in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

His 2025 season was, by all accounts, a smashing success for a player in his first full big league campaign. He swatted 26 home runs with an .836 OPS and a 133 wRC+ in 138 games, seizing his role as the every-day first baseman by the end of the year, with 12 home runs and an .894 OPS after the All-Star break. But Rice and the organization saw the potential for more.

"We had conversations, like, 'Hey, the process throughout the year was really good, so there's a lot to build on there so just try to continue that momentum,'" Rice said.

Rice consistently hit the ball hard and rarely made poor swing decisions. His Baseball Savant page spouted MVP-level red. The Yankees envisioned a star with some improvement on the margins and better luck. They envisioned what they've seen so far in 2026.

"I think he started off continuing what he did last year," said Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, a former National League MVP who has assumed the role as Rice's backup and is deployed mostly against left-handed pitchers. "I think we saw it. He's a smart hitter. He hits the ball hard. Controls the strike zone. Hits it to all parts of the field. Has good at-bats. Has a good plan up there. Basically, everything you'd want from a hitter. And he's a guy that continues to work offensively, defensively. So, we can see him continue to improve this year and for years to come."

Until this year, stability had eluded Rice. COVID derailed his college experience at Dartmouth. Matt Hyde, the Yankees' northeast area scout, first discovered Rice not at an Ivy League matchup but in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League in 2020, when it was the only collegiate summer league operating during COVID. Rice, playing for the Worcester Bravehearts, impressed Hyde with his raw power.

"I got to see a lot of Ben," Hyde told Buster Olney on ESPN's "Baseball Tonight Podcast" this week. "Back then, if the game was tied after nine innings, there'd be a home run hitting contest to determine who the winner of the game was. And Ben was always in the home run derby, so you always got to see the power.

"And I followed him all the way to the championship game, and I'll never forget him taking batting practice in the old stadium in Nashua, where Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe played back in the day. And it's surrounded by these giant pine trees, and he was hitting these massive home runs in BP."

The Ivy League didn't hold fall baseball in 2020 or a spring season in 2021, but Rice helped start a pickup league at a baseball facility in Northborough, Massachusetts, that scouts attended. Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees' director of amateur scouting, was living nearby and became a consistent presence.

"We called it the Ben Rice League," Hyde said.

That June, the Yankees drafted Rice as a catcher in the 12th round. Rice played twice a week in a farm system loaded with catching talent. He hit his way to the majors anyway, but the organizational logjam at the position forced him to learn first base on the fly as a rookie. Last year, he had to compete for playing time with Goldschmidt.

This season has been different. Rice reported to spring training, finally familiar with his surroundings and finally with a regular role as the team's every-day first baseman.

"This year, I was still coming into spring training looking to improve, get ready for the season and work hard," Rice said. "But I also have a peace of mind like, 'Hey, I'm going to be on this team, and I'm going to play an every-day role to start the year, and I got to be ready for that.'"

Last Friday, during the Yankees' home opener against the Miami Marlins, Rice displayed the blend of attributes -- moxie, power, plate discipline, intelligence and confidence -- that the Yankees believe will propel him to stardom.

It started with frustration when Rice struck out in his first plate appearance, failing to recognize that a called third strike was a ball he could've challenged. So in his second plate appearance, he burned a challenge on a slider that caught all strike zone before striking out again.

"That had to have played into it," Rice said. "Whether it was in my conscious mind or not, I remember going into the dugout after the first one that I didn't challenge, and I was like, 'Man, I'm pissed.'"

The anger continued in his third at-bat when he struck out swinging at a 3-2 splitter in the dirt. Three at-bats, three strikeouts. It was shaping up to be a forgettable day. Then, one swing flipped the frustration.

In his fourth at-bat, Rice smashed a 110.9 mph rocket down the right-field line for a home run, releasing a scream toward his dugout on his way to first base. An inning later, he concluded his day by swatting a 101.1 mph line drive off the top of the wall in right-center field for a two-run double.

"That shows you the next step," Rowson said. "He moved on to the next AB. When you see a guy have three tough at-bats to start a game, sometimes that's where the game ends. And he showed you that he can still stick with it, bounce back, and have two at-bats that essentially put us in the spot to win the game. This is what he's capable of."

All offseason, as the Yankees retained players, a narrative was molded: The Yankees were simply running it back. With that, an assumption from the outside was formed that the 2026 Yankees will not be good enough to win the World Series because the 2025 Yankees were not good enough. Time will tell whether the run-it-back Yanks are good enough to win the franchise's first championship since 2009 -- so far the bullpen has stumbled and the bottom half of the lineup isn't producing -- but part of their offseason equation was the impending return of ace Gerrit Cole and the opportunity for improvement from returnees. Perhaps nobody embodies that possibility more than Rice.

"Going back to last year, luck wasn't necessarily on his side, but he didn't deviate from anything, he didn't change anything," Warren said. "He just kept going to work every day. I think that's what's great about this game. If you stay consistent in your work, there's going to be highs and lows, but, for the most part, you're going to average out. And this is what I've played with since I was drafted. It's fun to watch."