Looks Like The Yankees Have A New Role For Ben Rice?

Blowout games are more enjoyable to watch when your team is on the winning side. Aside from the winning part, I also like it because that means it’s an opportunity to watch Ben Rice behind the plate. We got to watch that on Tuesday night, and we might get to see that more often.

The Yankees will welcome Giancarlo Stanton back to the roster soon, if all continues to go well. Adding Stanton’s bat back into the lineup creates a logjam because there would be no natural fit for Rice to get regular playing time. To solve that, Aaron Boone is considering giving Rice some occasional starts behind home plate, read more HERE. 

Rice has been a valuable piece to the lineup so far this season so losing him as a regular would be a shame. So now Boone will have to get creative which he said would be a “challenge” but ”doable, too.” There is speculation that Stanton may not start every game when he returns, so that may make it easier to get Rice’s bat in the lineup. The Yankees could give him some reps at DH, give Paul Goldschmidt a day off at first or let Austin Wells sit a game to recharge. The Yankees have options, they’ve even tested Rice with sound grounders at third base recently…..which is interesting timing with Jazz Chisholm injured again. 

The interesting piece of all this is plugging Rice into catching duties more gives Yankees three catchers to use as needed. It’s a nice strategy to have, but it creates the challenge of keeping J.C. Escarra involved in the game, too. Whether Rice would get more of an extended look over Escarra is unknown at this point, but the Yankees are determined to give him regular time, so anything is possible.

Usually when younger, talented players are stuck in their current position without a natural fit, it often leads to trade speculation when the trade deadline approaches. In this case, it seems highly unlikely that the Yankees would consider trading Rice considering Goldschmidt will be a free agent at the end of this season. Rice looks to be a natural choice to take over first base next season. The Yankees are high on Rice….so they are going to keep him and fit him in however they can.

This is one of those good problems to have for once…. I just hope Boone doesn’t mismanage the situation.