Ryan Garcia
The Yankees have some household names on their roster with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Cody Bellinger being considered established stars in this game
Ben Rice doesn’t have the hardware or pedigree that these titans have, but he’s certainly forced himself into the same tier as these players in terms of in-game impact for 2026.
After an inconsistent and unlucky start to his career when he came up during the 2024 season, Rice has become not only one of the team’s best bats, but he’s become one of the best bats in the entire league.
He’s truly earned the title of being an otherworldly hitter and it’s not just a homer take from a Yankees’ fan, it’s backed by numbers that hint at an MVP-like bat.
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Ben Rice Has Ascended to an Elite Status With the Yankees
Few hitters possess the skills that Ben Rice has, not only does he display excellent power with good exit velocities and a knack for pulling the ball to right field, but he’s developed excellent bat-to-ball abilities.
It’s rare to find a hitter who is able to generate damage contact as often as Ben Rice does, it’s even harder to find someone who makes as much contact as he does while hitting the ball incredibly hard.
Generally speaking, the harder you hit the ball the more contact you’re often conceding in order to increase swing speeds or attack the ball out in front for home run damage.
Contact quantity and contact quality effectively function as a seesaw, and hitters are constantly trying to adjust their swings to figure out whether they are more of a contact or power hitters.
Ben Rice didn’t have to consolidate any contact last year to increase his bat speed and hit the ball harder, and it’s translated to 2026 in the handful of games he’s played thus far.
Only two hitters inside the top-10 in Hard-Hit% since 2025 have a Zone Contact% at or above 85%; Ben Rice and Juan Soto, with Rice being better in both categories over that stretch.
It does not mean he is better than the future Hall of Famer, but it does highlight the rare air he is in from an offensive standpoint.
A conversation should be had about his standing as a hitter relative to the rest of baseball, and when you dig into the numbers, hes absolutely one of the elite hitters in the game.
We’re starting to get a taste of what he looks like when the batted ball luck isn’t generationally terrible, over his last 41 games he’s hitting .318 with a 179 wRC+ and 1.006 OPS.
I’m not going to suggest that his true talent level is being an MVP-caliber hitter, but I do think it’s closer to that than the 115 wRC+ hitter he was midway through the 2025 season.
The Yankees aren’t shocked that he’s this good, they haven’t put a ceiling on his level of greatness and if they continue to unleash him he’ll continue to deliver on results.
Once an unheralded hitter who missed two years of college ball to COVID with nagging injuries after being drafted, he’s become utterly elite and is threatening to surpass some of the game’s best bats.
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