Rafael Devers isn’t happy with the Boston Red Sox asking him to play first base. Switching positions is never fun, and he was already moved away from third base for Alex Bregman. Boston’s arch nemesis, the New York Yankees, might have a similar problem looming. They have a ton of bats that they can’t take out of the lineup, but they’ve had to with an unexpected breakout performance from Ben Rice.
Across 36 games this season, Rice holds a .260 batting average with nine home runs and a staggering .937 OPS. It’s not just the 26-year-old surprising Aaron Boone, as veteran outfielder Trent Grisham has been raking all season. Grisham is hitting .276 with ten home runs and a stellar .978 OPS. They don’t want to bench either of those two or their young star, Jasson Domínguez. Benching Aaron Judge would be blasphemous, and Cody Bellinger’s track record suggests benching him wouldn’t work out. Moving Bellinger to first base would open room for their outfielders, but Paul Goldschmidt holds a .349 batting average going into Monday, which is second in the American League.
Giancarlo Stanton could return by the end of May, as if the great problem couldn’t get any worse. That said, Boone has to start thinking of potential solutions to make sure Rice, Grisham, and Domínguez get regular at-bats.
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Should the Yankees ask Ben Rice to field a new position?
Once Stanton returns, Boone has to get creative. With Chisholm out for a couple of months, they have a few options. Rice has never played the infield before, but he’s a professional baseball player. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for him to play third base or second base to keep him in the lineup. As the old saying goes, if a player is hitting, teams will find a spot for them.
Third base seems like the best option for Rice as of now. Boone has used Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza at third base this season, and they haven’t gotten much production. Peraza and Cabrera have a combined .230 batting average.
Having Rice move to the infield would be in the Yankees' best interest. Himself, Grisham, and Domínguez would be able to get more at-bats. Once Stanton returns, they could opt to platoon Grishman and Stanton at DH. Taking Rice’s bat out of the lineup with how he’s hitting cannot happen, so Boone needs to get creative as soon as possible.