00:00Joel Sherman for three things this morning, still at Yankee camp, wrote in the New York Post, so you can
00:08get it in the newspaper, nypost.com, about Ben Rice.
00:11So why don't we deal with three issues about or around Ben Rice this morning and start with number one.
00:18I mean, everybody knows his origin story.
00:20A Yankee fan who grew up in Massachusetts.
00:24His time at Dartmouth was severely interrupted baseball-wise by COVID.
00:30He organized leagues.
00:31He organized a team.
00:33He got himself drafted in the 12th round by the Yankees.
00:36And he steadily worked his way up the system and got a breakthrough in 2024.
00:42He had a three-homer game.
00:44He went downhill to the point where he got sent to the minors.
00:49And then he kind of burst through last year, had a very good year.
00:54And some people don't like comparisons.
00:56I do.
00:57They help me see the game a little better.
01:00The game's been played for 150-ish years.
01:02There's lots of ways to look at things by age, by performance, to see people who are like other people.
01:08And you could, you know, it's an exercise.
01:11And one of the things that I did notice is he's played 188 games.
01:15And so for number one, why don't I start with, he looks a lot like Kyle Schwarber through 188 games.
01:21And that's both statistically, if you'd like to go look at those 188 games for both guys, and also, to
01:28some degree, a little bit of history.
01:30Both are guys who came up as catchers.
01:33Schwarber much more hailed.
01:34He was the fourth pick in a draft and came up right away.
01:39Both guys showed probably early on, especially Schwarber, that they don't belong at catcher.
01:44But lefty hitters, terrific power, Schwarber Moore, a great feel for the strike zone at a young age.
01:56Incredible self-confidence, hard work, and smarts.
02:02They both had it.
02:03I talked to Anthony Rizzo, who played with both guys early in their career.
02:08Again, you could read what Anthony thought.
02:10I didn't include some quotes from Joe Maddon, who managed Schwarber, who I talked to and is still an avid
02:17baseball watcher and loves Ben Rice.
02:20And so at least what I said, the outlines of it, that he had it.
02:24It's 188 games.
02:25Again, you'd get fooled by 188 games.
02:28Through 188 games, both Schwarber and Rice have numbers that look a lot like Kevin Moss.
02:34If you're an old Yankee fan, you'll know Kevin Moss came up in 1990, most of it, while Don Mattingly
02:41was hurt.
02:41He played a lot of first base.
02:43He was a matinee aisle.
02:45He was a good-looking kid, and he hit a ton of home runs early, and the Yankees thought that
02:48was their future.
02:50They put him as the DH pretty much the next season when Mattingly came back.
02:54And the league adjusted, and he was never the same, and he was pretty soon out of the game.
03:01What I like about the comparison with Schwarber and Rice is it could be lost to time because Schwarber did
03:09something very dramatic in 2016.
03:11He blew out his knee in the second game of the season.
03:14And when there was thought no hope he would play before 2017, again, the hard work, the ethic, he came
03:21back and made it to the World Series magically.
03:23The Cubs won for the first time in 108 years.
03:26He was a hero.
03:26But during the 2017 season, he performed so poorly, he got sent to the minor leagues, much like Rice did
03:33last year.
03:34And what good players do when they get adjusted to is they adjust again.
03:39And obviously, from the point where Schwarber comes back, it gets a little better.
03:44He's, though, at some point the Cubs give up on him, and it's not really until about the last five
03:50years, once he leaves Chicago, where he's become one of the most consistent, especially power hitters in the sport.
03:57He was a monster.
03:58He had 56 last year.
03:59He finished behind Shohei Ohtani for the MVP.
04:02Where on that path is Ben Rice?
04:06That's a lot to ask.
04:07Second in MVP, 56 homers.
04:09But can Ben Rice be 80% or 85% of what Schwarber is today?
04:13Can he stay on that path?
04:15Again, if you like the kid, and there's so much to like about his makeup and his willingness to work
04:20and how much self-belief he has in himself and the power,
04:23do you believe he could turn himself into a decent first baseman who just continues this ascension as a hitter?
04:30The Yankees always like the underlying numbers.
04:33You know, underlying numbers last year that looked a lot like Kyle Schwarber's, and they thought it would manifest, and
04:40they manifest last year.
04:41Which brings us to number two, just how important Ben Rice is in 2026 and moving forward.
04:46Yankees not had a really consistent first baseman year after year since the heyday of Mark Teixeira.
04:52They had a little Luke Voigt here, a decent season by Anthony Rizzo there, but nothing consistent at the position
04:58for about a decade now.
05:00And Rice is going to be given that opportunity.
05:02He's still catching a little bit.
05:04I don't think it's impossible that he gets behind the plate.
05:07But what the Yankees want most is for him to bat five times a day, hit like fifth in the
05:12lineup, be sitting there in, you know, grow, grow, grow,
05:16to the point where when Giancarlo Stanton's contract runs out in two years, you know, after the 2027 season,
05:23the Yankees still feel like they have a middle-of-the-order guy to pair with Aaron Judge.
05:27He certainly hinted at that last year.
05:30So his importance kind of can't be overstated.
05:35He's important in 2026.
05:37He's important moving forward.
05:39That he be a guy who solves that position for a while and continues to hit in the middle of
05:45the order.
05:46It's a big part of this year for the Yankees to get where they want to go and a big
05:51part for their near future.
05:53And so why don't â that brings us to number three.
05:55Why don't we talk a little bit about roster construction, which will kind of look all different probably a month
06:02from now
06:02when the Yankees actually have to make this decision when they're breaking camp and heading to San Francisco to open
06:07their season.
06:08But right now they have, I believe, 11 of the 13 position players they know they're going to go with,
06:16going, you know, healthy and going.
06:18Again, will Stanton stay healthy?
06:20Will Etc. stay healthy?
06:21But if they're healthy, they've got 11 lined up.
06:26The last two spots are a lot about do they have somebody who hits right-handed who can play left
06:32field,
06:33and do they take the third catcher?
06:34And that's where Ben Rice comes in again.
06:36Again, do the Yankees against lefty pitching â because once they bring Paul Goldschmidt back,
06:41they want Goldschmidt to start against lefties.
06:43It's a skill that has, into his late 30s, held on a little bit like his prime.
06:48You know, the power is mostly gone.
06:51Some of the first base skills â still a good first baseman, but not the great gold lover of his
06:55youth â is gone.
06:57But he can still beat up lefties.
06:59I would think the Yankees want to play him against lefties.
07:02In those situations, does Ben Rice catch?
07:05Because while Ben Rice hit in the low 200s, his slugging percentage was in the high 400s against lefty pitching
07:12last year.
07:13And the Yankees, again, for the near future of the team, want to make sure â or at least find
07:18out â if Rice can handle left-hand pitching.
07:20So the question is, do you go with Rice and Wells and send J.C. Esquera to the minor leagues
07:25and create a couple of positions, you know, extra position player situations?
07:31And is that Oswaldo Cabrera, who has not played any game yet?
07:35You know, remember, terrible fracture of his ankle last year.
07:39Aaron Boone has been very tempered in his enthusiasm for how quickly he's come along.
07:43Not for the guy, they all love the player and the person, but just he hasn't gotten on the field
07:48yet, and the doctors haven't said it's okay.
07:51So does he make it to the start line where he's an option?
07:54Does he hit right-handed well enough?
07:56That's the problem for him and Jason Dominguez.
07:58They're both switch hitters, but they hit so much better from the left side and not well enough from the
08:02right side.
08:03Do the Yankees go out in the marketplace late in this spring training?
08:08I'll throw out a couple of names.
08:10Be careful.
08:10I am not hearing they're interested in these players.
08:13I know they were interested in these players at previous times.
08:17So one is Austin Slater, who is a 20-B free agent, which means on a non-roster invitation, his
08:25new team, which is the Detroit Tigers,
08:27has to tell him four days before the end of camp if he's going to be on the 26-man
08:31roster.
08:32If not, he could declare himself a free agent.
08:34And the Yankees traded for him last July and were interested in him again in the offseason.
08:39Is he the kind of guy, if he isn't going to make the Tigers, the Yankees jump on?
08:43Chaz McCormick, who signed a non-roster invitation with the Cubs, has an opt-out on March 21st.
08:51Again, four days before the Yankees.
08:53The Yankees are beginning the season on the 25th before everyone else.
08:56Them and the Giants are playing the Netflix game.
08:59If he doesn't make the Cubs, do the Yankees try to jump on him?
09:02Randall Gritchick is still a free agent, a guy they've had interest in over the years.
09:05Do they jump on him?
09:07So I think part of the interest about Rice also is, do they dare to go with two catchers
09:13where one of them is playing first base all the time?
09:16And, you know, you run that risk of, like, how do I double switch out of this?
09:19Like, if I want to pinch run for somebody, do I leave myself vulnerable if a catcher gets hurt?
09:26Oswaldo Cabrera, by the way, would be the emergency catcher in such a situation if he made the team.
09:31So they have that decision that they're going to have to make, which will include,
09:35do they detract from Rice's overall offense and ability to adapt to first base
09:40if they put him behind the plate with any regularity?
09:43I think it's an interesting issue to follow in the next four weeks,
09:46not quite as interesting as how does Ben Rice continue to mature,
09:52and does he stay on the Kyle Schwarber path towards real greatness?
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