PITTSBURGH — What occurred within the Grapefruit League has not stayed within the Grapefruit League, at the least for Ben Rice.
After spending the spring smoking the ball, Rice has carried that over into the primary week of the common season, drilling the ball at will whereas making a soar up within the Yankees lineup.
Getting into Saturday’s sport, during which he was batting second in entrance of Aaron Choose, Rice was tied for first within the main leagues with a mean exit velocity of 100 mph — even forward of Choose’s 99.9 mph.
The pattern dimension remains to be small, however the early returns have been encouraging.
“He’s killing the ball,” supervisor Aaron Boone stated earlier than Rice went 1-for-5, scalding a 104.4 mph single and 102.9 mph flyout, in a 10-4 win over the Pirates at PNC Park. “Just at-bat quality and how hard he’s hitting the ball consistently [has stood out].”
Rice completed Saturday batting .320 (8-for-23) with a 1.073 OPS — numbers that might have been even higher if Pirates proper fielder Andrew McCutchen didn’t rob him of additional bases Friday on a ball laced off the bat at 107.9 mph with the bases loaded.
However past the outcomes, Rice’s underlying metrics provide hope that his influence on the plate may have some endurance — maybe to not its present extent, however the Yankees would gladly take some model of it.
“I think it’s who he is — I think he’s a real hitter,” Boone stated. “I’d even add last year to it. I know he had some struggles there, but we saw a lot of good in there too. And the ability to hit the ball with authority. That’s only grown. Obviously with how much he’s grown physically, and just gaining from that experience, I just feel like he’s a high-quality at-bat right now.”
Rice arrived within the huge leagues final summer time with a splash, hitting .294 with 4 residence runs (three in a single sport in opposition to the Crimson Sox) with a .972 OPS by means of his first 17 video games.
He cooled off from there, although, batting .109 with a .431 OPS and 39 strikeouts over his closing 33 video games, ending with a visit again to Triple-A.
Boone has maintained that Rice’s struggles weren’t as unhealthy as they appeared due to how he was squaring up some balls that changed into outs — which his common exit velocity of 90 mph would assist.
However along with bulking up his body over the offseason — with the added muscle giving him some additional thump within the bat — Rice can also be feeling extra snug mentally this yr.
“I think having the experience under my belt changes things a little bit,” Rice stated. “I think I just feel more comfortable with the team and the big league environment. That helps.”
After batting eighth his first 4 video games of this season, Rice hit leadoff on Thursday and Friday earlier than hitting second (in opposition to a left-hander) on Saturday.
Whereas Rice nonetheless desires to show he generally is a main league catcher, his primary accountability as of late has been filling in at DH for the injured Giancarlo Stanton along with one begin at first base to spell Paul Goldschmidt.
Stanton remains to be a methods away from getting back from his elbow accidents, but when Rice remains to be drilling the ball like this when that occurs, the Yankees will discover a solution to maintain his lefty bat within the lineup.
“I know I’ve had some of our coaches say, ‘Man, he’s just got so much confidence,’ ” Boone stated. “Understandably. If I’m hitting the ball like that, I’d probably feel pretty confident walking up there too. But I definitely think his confidence and his comfort has taken another step too, which is important.”
