It felt like the New York Yankees' season was hanging in the balance against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night. Another error from Anthony Volpe and more questionable bullpen management from Aaron Boone had turned a 4-1 lead into a 4-4 tie, and suddenly New York was staring at a fifth straight loss to their division rival and a five-game deficit in the AL East. Given how hot Toronto has been and how much the Yankees have struggled of late, that would've felt nearly insurmountable.
Who did New York turn to with its back against the wall? Not Aaron Judge, or Cody Bellinger, or Jazz Chisholm Jr. Instead, it was rookie first baseman Ben Rice who delivered the go-ahead homer in the top of the ninth inning off of Jays closer Jeff Hoffman.
Ben Rice gives the @Yankees the lead in the 9th 😤 pic.twitter.com/sEqKonHblH
— MLB (@MLB) July 23, 2025
It was a huge moment, to say the least, both for the team at large and for Rice personally. But it also needs to serve as a wake-up call for Boone and Co. moving forward. Rice has officially arrived, and it's long past time that he stopped ceding playing time to the brutally slumping Paul Goldschmidt.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Ben Rice has earned Yankees first-base job amid Paul Goldschmidt's brutal slump
Rice entered play on Tuesday with a .795 OPS, good for a 122 wRC+ that ranks 14th among all qualified first basemen. And he's put up those numbers despite being among the unluckiest hitters in baseball this year: Rice's expected slugging percentage is nearly 100 points higher than his actual mark, per Baseball Savant, and he hits the ball as hard as just about anyone in the sport. He sure looks like a budding young star.
And yet, he entered Tuesday having started only seven of the team's 11 games in July so far. It would be understandable enough if his partner at first base, veteran Paul Goldschmidt, were hitting as well. But Goldy has been downright awful for over a month now, with a .590 OPS since the start of June. All of his metrics are going in the wrong direction, and he looks every bit of 37 years old right now.
Aaron Boone and the Yankees love nothing more than catering to veterans, but they can't afford to keep doing it now. This season is too important, especially with this core not getting any younger. New York has everything riding on this stretch run, and they need their best players on the field as much as possible. Sure, giving Goldschmidt the occasional start against lefties makes some sense, but he's even struggled against southpaws lately, and Boone can't slot him into the lineup by default.