Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- One American League team is standing firm on its All-Star slugger's position despite fan demands for a defensive shakeup.
- The front office has publicly dismissed moving the player back to his original position after a recent trade for another everyday starter.
- The decision highlights a clear deadline priority — finding offensive help at a position that has been a consistent weakness for years.
Whatever else the New York Yankees do at the deadline, at least all signs point to keeping Ben Rice exactly where he is.
That applies to far more than solely not trading Rice, their All-Star slugger who is on pace to clear 40 home runs. Despite coming up as a catcher in the Minor Leagues, the Yankees are not expected to move Rice from first base and shift him back behind the plate — where the team has been desperate for more offensive production.
Although Yankees fans have suggested such a change for months, longtime Yankees insider Jack Curry threw cold water on the idea even after Sunday’s trade for Nationals first baseman Luis García Jr.
“Ben Rice is not suddenly in August going to become a catcher,” Curry said. “They’re happy with their catchers and what they’ve done defensively, but not offensively.”
The Yankees keeping Ben Rice at first only further signals a trade
For what it’s worth, I personally believe the Yankees are making the right move. For as much of a black hole as the catcher position has been, there is no reason to break what’s working and give Rice a radically new role. It’s not like he’d be taking on a greater role as a DH.
But whether it’s Ryan Jeffers or Adley Rutschman, the Yankees cannot leave the deadline without having added another catcher. It’s become blatantly clear that Austin Wells isn’t the answer, and there should be extensive, honest conversations this offseason about where he fits into the Yankees’ long-term plans. That said, given how Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone operate, we should fully expect Wells to be the Opening Day starter in 2027. (Assuming that there’s a 2027 season, but that’s neither here nor there.)
As of Monday morning, the Yankees had not traded for a catcher. However, they’d already been busy before acquiring García, having sent struggling reliever Camilo Doval to the Pirates this past weekend.
Credit to the Yankees for repeatedly resisting the temptation to make Rice their starting catcher. He’s become the power-heavy, on-base machine first baseman that they once hoped they’d get from Greg Bird, and his .551 slugging percentage ranks second in baseball, narrowly ahead of the third-place García. His .354 on-base percentage is significantly above the .318 league average.
Rice enters Monday only nine home runs away from joining a special list of nine Yankees to hit the 40-homer mark. In fact, if he reaches 42, he’d become only the 10th individual Yankee to hit that many in a single season. Four of those nine players are in the Hall of Fame, and Aaron Judge is well on track to eventually earn a spot in Cooperstown.
But most importantly, seven of the nine won at least one championship with the Yankees. Judge and Curtis Granderson are the only exceptions, though pairing Rice with a trustworthy catcher would go a long way toward ensuring that Granderson stands alone when November hits.
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