{"id":117915,"date":"2026-04-04T18:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T22:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=117915"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:01:10","slug":"ben-rice-off-to-hot-start-2026-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/04\/04\/ben-rice-off-to-hot-start-2026-yankees\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Infielder Off to a Scorching Start at the Plate"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the conclusion of Friday\u2019s slate of games, the New York Yankees stand atop<\/a> the MLB standings with a record of 6-1. Their elite pitching staff deserves most of the credit, having given up a mere eight runs through their first seven games. However, there is one hitter whose scorching start is being overshadowed by the dominance of New York\u2019s pitching.<\/span><\/p>\n

That hitter is Ben Rice, of course. The catcher-turned-first-baseman is picking up right where he left off last season<\/a>, slashing .409\/.500\/.864 with nine hits, including two homers and four doubles, and eight RBI. Anyone who watched Rice<\/a> on the Yankees last season should have seen this coming, despite the fact that he \u201conly\u201d had an .836 OPS, 26 home runs, and 65 RBI.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Scorching Start by Ben Rice Helping to Spur MLB-Best Yankees<\/h2>\n

Hidden in the Stats<\/h2>\n

According to <\/span>Baseball Savant<\/span>, Rice was one of the unluckiest hitters in the entire league in 2025. This is because he registered one of the highest xwOBA (expected weighted on-base average) in all of MLB, with a mark of .394. His expected batting average, .283, was also significantly lower than his actual average (.255). His average exit velo, barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and chase rate were also in the top 10% of all qualified hitters last season.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was only a matter of time before all of those hard-hit balls turned into hits rather than tough outs. As for whether or not last season was a fluke, Rice\u2019s batted-ball data from the first few games of 2026 shows that last season was not a blip, but rather a glimpse of what is to come for one of New York\u2019s best hitters.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ben Bomb in the BX \ud83d\udca3 pic.twitter.com\/QgFyYUwkNA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n