SOLVING THE BEN RICE DILEMMA
On February 12, the New York Yankees announced they were resigning Paul Goldschmidt to a 1-year/$4m contract. The Yankees needed another right-handed hitter, and the 38-year-old first baseman posted great numbers in 2025 against left-handed pitching.
- 168 plate appearances
- .336 batting average
- .411 on-base percentage
- .981 OPS
At that price, I considered it a good move considering the Yankees had already announced that Ben Rice would be a full-time player in 2026. Plus, Goldschmidt served as a mentor to Rice in his transition to first base, and serves as injury protection for Giancarlo Stanton.
However, I did not expect a mid-April controversy about whether the two are in a strict platoon.
My Real Take is that Rice should get a minimum of 150 starts. He’s a budding star, and needs to be trusted in all situations during the season to prepare him for facing lefties in the playoffs.
It makes sense for Aaron Boone to want Goldschmidt’s bat in the line-up against lefties, but he should move Rice to catcher in those games. Then you’ll have Austin Wells available to come off the bench to pinch-hit, and catch at the end of the game when you put in your best defensive lineup.
If healthy, we know what the Yankees are going to get from Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge, and Stanton. Rice is the wild card. Last year, in his first full MLB season, he finished 13th in American League OPS.
He’s too young and too valuable for Boone to coddle him like a “load-managed” NBA player.
I DON’T KNOW ON THIRD BASE
Utilizing Rice’s flexibility to be both the starting first baseman and backup catcher will enable the Yankees to send JC Escarra to the minors once Anthony Volpe is ready to return to the Bronx.
Volpe is going to be given sufficient rope at shortstop to prove that last year’s regression was health-related. Which means that the Yankees will have the depth needed to work around their Ryan McMahon problem.
Amed Rosario has already established himself as the starter against lefties, but with Jose Caballero moving to the bench, Boone will have more options to prevent McMahon from having to take important late-inning at-bats.
JUDGE VS MANTLE
Earlier today I was listening to the Michael Kay Show on 98.7 FM ESPN Radio. An inquisitive caller told Michael that he was surprised how well Aaron Judge’s much-maligned post-season stats compare to Mickey Mantle.
Granted, as the caller said, there were no playoffs back in Mantle’s days. All his stats were compiled in World Series games. And, Kay pointed out, Mantle won 7 rings.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that the caller was right. Their stats are surprisingly similar.
MANTLE | JUDGE | |
Games | 65 | 65 |
Plate App | 273 | 293 |
At Bats | 230 | 246 |
Hits | 59 | 58 |
Runs | 42 | 42 |
Doubles | 6 | 8 |
Triples | 2 | 0 |
Homers | 18 | 17 |
RBIs | 40 | 41 |
Walks | 43 | 40 |
Strikeouts | 54 | 91 |
Steals | 3 | 5 |
Batting Ave | 0.257 | 0.236 |
On-Base % | 0.374 | 0.346 |
Slugging % | 0.535 | 0.476 |
OPS | 0.908 | 0.822 |
UPCOMING SERIES
If April games against the Athletics and Angels don’t excite you, rivalry games are right around the corner.
- Yankees at Boston Red Sox (April 21, 22, 23)
- Yankees at Houston Astros (April 24, 25, 26)
- Yankees at New York Mets (May 15, 16, 17)
- Yankees host Toronto Blue Jays (May 18, 19, 20)
2 thoughts on “4 Things Yankees: A Real Take on Ben Rice”
Re: Mantle v Judge – It’s a cool comparison. The bottom four columns widen the gap though. And Mantle, who was known for striking out a lot, struck almost half as many times as Judge. So more balls in play. More movement. Makes the opposition work harder and forces them to make plays. Like tonight, Romano got Stanton to strike out, and Chisholm to pop up. But the Angels didn’t make the play. So Chisholm gets on and it becomes a four-out inning. And then he steals second, Romano walks Wells. Of course he does after error. And Cabalerro gets ANOTHER clutch hit and the game ends on the play at the plate. Mantle struck out 54 times in the post season/World Series. Judge 91. So Mantle put the ball in play 37 more times.
My Real Take is that Judge has been a good, not great post-season hitter. I’m definitely not saying he is equal to Mickey Mantle who is arguable the most successful World Series hitter in history. I’m just pointing out that because he hasn’t won any rings, and he wears pinstripes, that he gets a bad rap. He’s been better in October than most folks give him credit for.