Ben Rice became an integral part of the New York Yankees' lineup in 2025.
Giancarlo Stanton's extended injured list stint with tennis elbow in both of his elbows allowed Rice to receive starts as the Yankees' designated hitter in the early goings.
Rice platooned at first base with Paul Goldschmidt upon Stanton's arrival, but there will be no Goldschmidt next season. He also made 36 appearances at catcher.
"I do think Rice can improve -- you can teach glovework and positioning at first base, what you can't teach as easily is impacting the ball as hard and as consistently as he does," MLB.com's Bryan Hoch wrote on Tuesday.
Rice's defense is a work in progress, after he graded poorly at both positions. Behind the plate, his pop time is unimpressive, and at first, well, the Yankees may just look past his shortcomings because of his ability to smash the ball.
Rice's elite hard-hit percentage
Just six players had a better hard-hit percentage than Rice's 56.1 mark last season. They were Kyle Schwarber, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Romy Gonzalez, Oneil Cruz, and James Wood.
Rice's average exit velocity in 2025 was 93.3 mph, placing him in the 95th percentile amongst qualified MLB bats. His.255 batting average was 45 points lower than his expected batting average of.290, so he was very unlucky.
The Yankees seem to have a budding star at the plate, and if he can improve his glove at first base with more repetitions and playing time, there's no telling what he can accomplish.
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