Is Ben Rice’s Defense Ready for October?
Has Rice's defense developed enough for him to catch meaningful postseason innings for the Bronx Bombers?
Ben Rice has had a significant impact this year for the New York Yankees and forced the team’s hand in figuring out a way to keep his bat in the lineup.
Rice came up through the Yankees’ system as a catcher with major defensive concerns, but the bat continued to play at all levels. Throughout his minor league career, Rice hit .282/.399/536 with a .935 OPS. The Yankees knew this was a bat that could contribute at the major league level; it was just a matter of where he could play on the other side of the ball.
The Yankees allowed Rice to get comfortable at first base while continuing to develop his defense behind the dish. In June of the 2024 season, an injury to Anthony Rizzo led to Rice being called up to the show for his first opportunity in pinstripes. He did have a few highlights, like a three-homer game against his hometown team, the rival Boston Red Sox, but he mostly struggled and filled a very limited role.
Still, there was potential for much more, and that potential has started to shine through this season.
Rice has been so good this year that he has reporter Andy Martino suggesting he is “closer to gracing the cover of ‘MLB: The Show’ than he is to earning a trip to Scranton.”
With Austin Wells’ offensive struggles and Rice’s defense looking better and better, could Rice find himself behind the dish in October for the Yankees?
Why Rice’s Bat Is So Important to the Yankees’ Lineup
It’s an expression as old as time that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture has a lot to say about Ben Rice’s bat.
His Baseball Savant page shows how explosive he has been, with a hard-hit rate, xSLG, and xwOBA all in the 98th percentile. Rice also ranks in the 95th percentile or higher in xBA, average exit velocity, and barrel rate.
To go along with those stats, Rice is above average in every other batting category, showing that he is a well-rounded bat and not just a 30-home run threat.
He is hitting .241/.339/.488, leading to an .827 OPS. But with the way that Baseball Savant and I have been hyping him up, you would think he would have even better numbers.
There is a case to be made that Rice is one of the unluckiest hitters in MLB this season, which is why his slash line is so different from his expected stats. His batting average is 54 points below his xBA, his slugging percentage is 100 points below his xSLG, and his wOBA is 62 points below his xwOBA. He ranks among the top 10 qualified hitters in all three expected stats,
It might be a stretch to suggest he can get his real stats to match his expected stats, but it certainly seems he is capable of producing even better numbers than he has to this point.
Rice has also been as hot as they come lately, hitting .324/.452/.794 with four homers in his last 10 games, highlighted by a seven-RBI game against the Cardinals. He has played catcher in five of those 10 games.
So the Bat Is Great, but Is the Defense Up To Snuff?
Ben Rice has spent the majority of his short MLB career at first base and DH. Yet, with Paul Goldschmidt taking most of the reps at first and Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge DHing, and with how much Austin Wells has been struggling, it only made sense for the Yankees to try out Rice behind the dish on occasion.
So far, it has been working out, as the Yankees are winning again and Rice has held his own behind the dish. He has one block above average, according to Statcast, and his framing had only been slightly below average. He has also called several good games for the Yankees’ starters.
With that being said, he still has room to improve. His pop time is well below average, which could cause him to struggle in limiting the running game. He also has a very raw and untested arm behind the plate. In addition, any further concerns about Rice’s defense from before the season have not been assuaged by his serviceable performance in a 25-game sample.
Could we see Rice behind the plate in October? My answer is absolutely, though he is far from the best defensive option on the team, as Wells remains a superb defender.
Still, Rice seems to be getting better every day he catches, and he has continued to work with Yankees catching director Tanner Swanson, who has built a catching factory in New York.
Swanson recently had this to say in a Yankees Magazine article:
“We’re trying to really build and manage volume more than any specific skill development. I think Ben’s a very skilled, dynamic catcher. I think it’s his natural position and the one he’s probably the most comfortable with in terms of the experience.”
If catcher really is where Rice is most comfortable, the Yankees will hope he can continue to develop heading into October. It’s obvious that no team wants a player to be developing in the playoffs, they want them to be performing, but in my eyes, Rice has proven he can hold his own behind the dish enough to be an option for the Yankees if Wells continues to struggle (or if he gets pinch-hit for).
I do not believe Rice would start a game one of a playoff series at catcher for the Yankees, simply because of how strong Wells is defensively, and I have trust in Wells to come alive down the stretch. That said, I absolutely believe that the team will be having conversations about Rice being an option, and I do think he will find himself behind the dish during important innings in October.
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Gio Panicola is a student-athlete Business Management major at Endicott College and a writer for Just Baseball, covering the New York Yankees.