New York Yankees first baseman/Designated Hitter Ben Rice has emerged as an exciting can’t-miss superstar.
In only his third season, Rice, who is only 27 years old, is enjoying a breakout season, which, approaching mid-June, has seen him already hit 18 home runs, 45 RBIs, 66 hits, and 49 runs while hitting for a .297 batting average, which makes this popular Yankee a serious early-season contender for the AL MVP.
Rice’s early-season accomplishments haven’t gone unnoticed by MLB, as he finished off the month of May by accomplishing a first in his career: winning the American League Player of the Week.
In what is sure to be the first of many, Rice was in an incredible zone during that last week of May, when from May 24-31st, he made all of baseball take notice as hit for a .462 batting average (12 for 26), while showing his power by banging out four doubles, two triples, one home run, eight runs scored and 11 RBis in playing a pivotal role in helping the Yankees win five of six during their road trip against the Kansas City Royals and Athletics.
However the quest to win AL MVP Honors for the season, will now be more challenging for Rice, who won’t have home run-hitting outfielder Aaron Judge hitting behind him in the foreseeable future.
Ben Rice Confident About Having To Hit Without Aaron Judge Behind Him in the Order
Judge, who for years has been the Yankees MVP and biggest home run threat, is no stranger to injuries as he recently suffered a stress fracture in his upper (right) rib, which will keep the slugger sidelined for 4-6 weeks.
Naturally with a star like Judge hitting behind Rice, this young first baseman/Designated hitter was getting all sorts of pitches to hit. Now with Judgec gone, it’s a monumental challenge which Rice is confident that he can accomplish in not slowing down with the bat despite no Judge in the batting order.
“He’s a huge presence to be missing from our lineup,” Rice said.
In terms of feeling any extra pressure of keeping pace in the AL MVP race, without Judge hitting behind him, Rice responded, “Nope. I’m just focused on the here and now. We’ll see where we stand at the end.”
Now hitting behind Rice is veteran first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who is hitting .281 with 8 home runs and 27 RBIs.
Yankees Slugger Joins Some Elite CompanyÂ
Less than a month ago, Rice had a historic game to remember during an eventual 8-2 road win against the Athletics.
Rice, who by the way was selected not until the 12th round of the 2021 draft, put his name in the Yankee franchise record books during the seventh inning when on May 29th in Sacramento, he hit his 17th home run of the season and 50th of his career off of A’s reliever Scott Barlow to become the fifth fastest player in Yankees franchise history to hit the 50 home run plateau.
The fastest Yankee to reach 50 career home runs was catcher Gary Sanchez who needed only 161 games. Not surprisingly Judge is on this list as he reached 50 home runs in 174 games. The next two to reach 50 home runs was the Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio who is third all-time at 200 games followed by infielder Gleyber Torres who needed 231 games.
Rice Showing Team LeadershipÂ
Recently in an early June game, after Goldschmidt hit a home run, there wasn’t that enthusiastic loud familiar cheer coming from the Yankee dugout. Surprisingly it wasn’t a veteran Yankee but rather Rice who called out his teammates in a positive way which was something manager Aaron Boone enjoyed seeing.
“I like that he called everyone out like that,” Boone said after the game in an interview. “Like, Hey, let’s go.”
Rice is obviously a star in the makings and will get the honor of playing in his first All-Star Game. However, when it comes to the AL MVP award, the mission becomes all that much harder with Judge out of the line-up and chances are the statistics will slip a little and Rice won’t win it.
Main Image: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
