Ben Rice

Ben Rice

27-Year-Old CatcherC
New York Yankees
2026 Fantasy Outlook
The late great Steve Moyer would often throw out names in LABR with the label, "the sabermetric darling...." If Moyer was still with us today, he would no doubt slap that label on Ben Rice because the youngster absolutely earned it in 2025. Rice did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for leaderboards last season, but his barrel percentage and chase percentage along with an intriguing xwOBA were enough to get fantasy managers intrigued. That, and the news he may catch some games in 2026. Everything was a Ricearoni treat, as Rice not only raked, but he ended up catching enough to qualify for the position in 2026 and greatly raising his fantasy profile for this draft season. Rice, unsurprisingly, had his issues against fellow southpaws, hitting .208 with just seven of his 26 home runs against them, but his home/road home run splits were nearly dead even along with his batting average. His numbers really took off after the break, as Rice hit .281/.352/.542 in the 60 games leading into October. There are few players whose 2026 outlook has changed in the past year more than Rice's. As long as he continues to hit like this, the Yankees can live with the defensive issues. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#50
ADP
Signed a one-year contract with the Yankees in March of 2026.
Homer streak at three games
CNew York Yankees
April 18, 2026
Rice went 1-for-3 with two walks and a solo home run in Saturday's 13-4 win over the Royals.
Analysis
Kansas City tried to pitch around the red-hot slugger, but Rice got hold of a Noah Cameron fastball in the third inning and drove it 398 feet into the second deck in right field at Yankee Stadium. Rice has gone yard in three straight games, and on the season he's slashing .339/.468/.774 with six doubles, seven homers, 17 RBI and 19 runs in 20 contests.
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Batting Stats
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2026 MLB Game Log
2026
2025
2024
2026 MLB Game Log
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2025 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
11
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
3
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+19%
OPS vs RHP
2026
 
 
+25%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+14%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+35%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .718 180 24 10 23 2 .201 .278 .440
Since 2024vs Right .856 605 89 30 82 2 .257 .350 .506
2026vs Left 1.040 17 2 2 2 1 .313 .353 .688
2026vs Right 1.304 62 17 5 15 0 .348 .500 .804
2025vs Left .752 118 17 7 18 1 .208 .271 .481
2025vs Right .860 410 57 19 47 2 .269 .356 .504
2024vs Left .483 45 5 1 3 0 .135 .267 .216
2024vs Right .654 133 15 6 20 0 .183 .263 .391
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Minor League Splits View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+2%
OPS on Road
2026
 
 
+28%
OPS on Road
2025
 
 
+4%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+10%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .816 408 59 23 50 2 .229 .328 .487
Since 2024Away .833 377 54 17 55 2 .259 .340 .494
2026Home 1.119 48 10 5 11 1 .270 .417 .703
2026Away 1.428 31 9 2 6 0 .440 .548 .880
2025Home .854 256 37 14 27 1 .250 .336 .518
2025Away .820 272 37 12 38 2 .259 .338 .481
2024Home .587 104 12 4 12 0 .159 .269 .318
2024Away .647 74 8 3 11 0 .188 .257 .391
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Stat Review
How does Ben Rice compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.80
 
BB Rate
20.3%
 
K Rate
25.3%
 
BABIP
.389
 
ISO
.435
 
AVG
.339
 
OBP
.468
 
SLG
.774
 
OPS
1.243
 
wOBA
.510
 
Exit Velocity
95.5 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
41.9%
 
Barrels/PA
12.7%
 
Expected BA
.305
 
Expected SLG
.676
 
Sprint Speed
23.5 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
44.2%
 
Line Drive %
14.0%
 
Fly Ball %
41.9%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Ben Rice See More
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2025
2024
Rice's play initially upon his promotion fueled optimism, but just as quickly as he worked his way into Yankees fans' good graces, he fell out of favor. After his three-homer game July 6, Rice hit .112/.209/.235 over his next 32 games, earning a trip back to Triple-A for the final month. Following the departure of Anthony Rizzo, the Yankees signed Paul Goldschmidt to serve as their primary first baseman for 2025. Rice will likely begin his age-26 season back in the minors serving as depth. His focus has to be on earning and making the most of his next major-league opportunity.
Rice put up cartoonish numbers across Single-A, High-A and Double-A as a 24-year-old catcher who probably isn't a good enough defender to catch regularly in the big leagues. He slashed .324/.434/.615 with 20 home runs and an 18.7 percent strikeout rate in 73 games, 48 of which came at Double-A, which was noteworthy enough for him to emerge as a legitimate prospect in dynasty leagues despite his age. He already started seeing time at first base last year, but the Yankees may give him another season to try to make enough progress to stick at catcher. It should be viewed as a long shot that he is catcher eligible in fantasy for more than a year or two. Rice's mammoth power and lack of strikeout issues thus far give him a chance to be an everyday designated hitter/first baseman during his mid-20s, although that opportunity may not come as a member of the Yankees.
More Fantasy News
Homers again in win
CNew York Yankees
April 17, 2026
Rice went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and an additional run scored in Friday's 4-2 win over the Royals.
Analysis
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Taking seat again vs. lefty
CNew York Yankees
April 14, 2026
Rice is out of the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Angels.
Analysis
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Taking seat versus lefty
CNew York Yankees
April 13, 2026
Rice is not in the lineup for Monday's game against the Angels.
Analysis
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Getting start against lefty
CNew York Yankees
April 9, 2026
Rice is starting at first base and batting fifth in Thursday's game versus the Athletics.
Analysis
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Launches third homer
CNew York Yankees
April 5, 2026
Rice went 1-for-2 with a three-run homer, three walks and an additional run scored in Sunday's 7-6 loss to the Marlins.
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Slated for everyday role
CNew York Yankees
February 7, 2026
Rice is expected to be the first option at first base for the Yankees in 2026 despite the recent addition of Paul Goldschmidt, according to Randy Miller of NJ.com.
Analysis
Rice is slated to be the Yankees' primary first baseman in 2026, but don't be surprised if Goldschmidt sees starts against left-handed pitchers. Rice is also able to play as a catcher, so he might find a way to sneak into the lineup even when Goldschmidt is on the field.
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