DUNEDIN, Fla. — Nearly any time the ball has touched Ben Rice’s bat this spring, it has come scorching off it.
Grapefruit League stats can typically be deceptive, however exit velocities could also be a greater signal of issues to come back and Rice has been excelling in each.
The main candidate to get the majority of Yankees DH at-bats to begin the season clubbed his fourth house run of the spring on Monday whereas going 2-for-4 in a 6-5 loss to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark.
Rice’s two hits got here off the bat at 111.1 mph (an RBI single) and 105.8 mph (a 415-foot blast).
By Monday, Rice’s common exit velocity this spring was 97.4 mph, which was among the many highest marks of any hitter this spring (for reference, Aaron Choose led the majors within the common season final yr with a mean exit velocity of 96.2).
It has solely been a small pattern measurement of 43 at-bats, however Rice is taking advantage of them whereas all however wrapping up his spot on the roster to interrupt camp.
“It’s impressive,” supervisor Aaron Boone stated. “He can hit.
“It’s real juice everywhere.”
Rice got here to camp having added 10 kilos since final June, a lot of it muscle in his higher physique, which has given him some additional pop this spring.
“It definitely helps,” stated Rice, who had a mean exit velocity of 90 mph final season in 152 large league at-bats. “It’s just putting more force in the ball, more mass behind it. Put it in the air, good things are going to happen.”
Whereas the Yankees consider Rice generally is a legit main league catcher — “He’s real back there,” Boone stated earlier than Monday’s sport — his path to essentially the most at-bats early this season might come as a DH whereas Giancarlo Stanton is out.
The Yankees are anticipated to hold three catchers — all of them left-handed hitters — with J.C. Escarra (who has additionally had a powerful spring offensively) serving as extra of a backup behind Austin Wells and Rice taking over extra DH duties.
Rice performed first base final summer time whereas making his main league debut as an damage alternative for Anthony Rizzo.
He began off red-hot, batting .294 with 4 house runs and a .972 OPS by way of his first 17 video games earlier than cooling off and being optioned again to Triple-A by September.
“There’s another level of power in there,” Boone stated. “It got your attention last year, the way he could drive the ball, but it feels noticeably even different this year.”
