NEW YORK — Ben Rice, MLB’s best hitter to begin the season, has not started in three of the past five games for the New York Yankees. It raises the question: Does Rice’s manager think he’s more of a platoon bat than a star-level talent?
“Hell no,” Aaron Boone unequivocally told The Athletic before Tuesday’s 7-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
The public perception and Rice’s usage would disagree with Boone’s forceful response. Rice has not started in four of the Yankees’ five matchups this season against left-handers, including Tuesday against Reid Detmers. Boone pinch-hit Rice for Ryan McMahon in the eighth inning and got a sacrifice fly.
Rice did not start against Angels lefty Yusei Kikuchi on Monday, but he was inserted in the fifth inning as a pinch hitter and finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. Boone called for Rice off the bench with the score tied at 4 and Giancarlo Stanton standing on second base, viewing the at-bat as a critical moment in the game. The manager followed a similar strategy Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, who started lefty Steven Matz. Rice pinch hit in the eighth against righty reliever Hunter Bigge and homered.
By using Rice this way, Boone feels he can better control the matchups.
“I’ve just been able to use him so much in these games, and I cherry-pick the at-bat and aggressively insert him,” Boone said. “Also, in the early season, it keeps (Paul Goldschmidt) in play, who is so good against lefties. The last two times I sat Rice against the lefties, he comes in and hits a homer (in Tampa), and (Monday) he gets three at-bats. I’m picking the at-bat, as opposed to them bringing in a (reliever) to face him. He’s going to play.”
Part of Boone’s rationale for deploying Rice in this manner, at least to start the season, is due to Goldschmidt’s success against lefty pitching since joining the organization before the 2025 season. Only three hitters — Aaron Judge, Shea Langeliers and Iván Herrera — have a higher wRC+ against lefties than Goldschmidt over that span.
Boone initially planned on Rice starting Tuesday’s game but had a change of heart Monday night. Heading into the Angels series, he told Rice that Goldschmidt would start Monday’s game against Kikuchi, and Rice would start Tuesday against Detmers. Over Detmers’ career, left-handed hitters have fared better against him. But Boone let Rice know after Monday’s game that the plan changed because he felt like his strategy of using him off the bench was working.
Rice understands why his manager is using him this way to begin the season.
“I think last year, I was overall a productive hitter versus (lefties),” Rice said. “The only way to continue to get better is to see them. I’m still going to get reps against them. I’m still going to face lefty relievers, at least like I have been, and start against certain guys.
“The reality is, we’ve got one of the best hitters against left-handed pitching in baseball.”
Perhaps more than any other hitter in the Yankees’ clubhouse, Rice is in tune with all of the analytics. He knows he finished last season with a 104 wRC+ against lefty pitching, along with an encouraging .481 slugging percentage. He knows that among the 162 hitters who saw as many pitches as he did last season against lefties, only six had a better hard-hit rate.
The Yankees, of course, know these numbers, too. Rice not starting against every lefty is not an indictment of their belief in his ability; it’s more about Goldschmidt being a top-five hitter against lefty pitching since the start of 2025. But those who feel strongly that Rice is too good a hitter to sit no matter who’s on the mound would likely argue this is an unsound process.
“We know that there’s potential there of continuing to get better,” Rice said of himself. “But for now, I’m just going to be ready in whatever role that I’m penciled in for, whether that’s pinch hitting or starting.”
Aaron Boone, pictured with plate umpire Ryan Wills, said of Ben Rice not starting against lefties: “I’m picking the at-bat, as opposed to them bringing in a (reliever) to face him.” (Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
One thing that will help Rice face more left-handed starters is his readiness to catch in games. He caught Carlos Rodón’s full live batting practice Monday (three innings, 50 pitches), and he continues to catch bullpens. The Yankees had Rice catch only one spring training game because they wanted his focus to be on getting reps at first base, the position he would play most of the time. Boone said Rice’s progression behind the plate this year will likely be similar to last season, when the Yankees slowly integrated him. Rice caught 36 games (26 starts) last season.
Boone said he’s comfortable bringing Rice into a game at catcher in a one- or two-inning role, but nothing more than that. Once he’s ready for a bigger workload behind the plate, the calculus will change on days when the Yankees face a lefty starter because Rice could start in place of Austin Wells.
“In spring, he was so focused on first base,” Boone said. “I wanted him to consume that and not overload him work-wise.”
The Yankees are expected to face two lefties this weekend against the Kansas City Royals: Noah Cameron and Cole Ragans. Boone said it’s an “almost certainty” that Rice will start against Ragans and possibly Cameron.
More reps against left-handed pitchers will be invaluable for Rice. Looking ahead to October, some of the American League’s best starters are lefties, including Cameron, Ragans and Kris Bubic from the Royals. Others include Detroit’s Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez and Boston’s Garrett Crochet and Ranger Suárez. Then there are heavy-reverse-splits righties such as Toronto’s Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage.
The only way for Rice to be ready for those October moments is to continue getting those plate appearances. So far, he has 12 plate appearances against lefties this season, compared to 15 for Goldschmidt. A common misconception is that hitters can now take at-bats whenever they please against Trajekt pitching machines, which simulate MLB pitchers. But Rice said there’s not enough time to freely use the Trajekt because if he’s not batting against a lefty on a particular day, all of the game-planning is focused on that day’s pitcher.
“I only do that for the guys that I’m going to face,” Rice said. “I don’t just go in there and do it to do it. Nothing can truly replicate a real at-bat anyway. As advanced as that machine is, the only way to get better at the at-bats is to actually get them.”
And Rice will eventually get more of those at-bats. Boone mentioned that it’s only the third week of the season. He still believes Rice is one of the best hitters in the sport. But he also understands fans’ skepticism and the perception that the Yankees’ first baseman is being treated like a platoon bat.
“I hear you, but I would say he’s had a massive impact in the last two lefty matchups (not including Tuesday’s game) where he sat, as has Goldschmidt,” Boone said. “That would be my answer, and it’s hard to deny. It’s just a different aggression and a different level of weapon (off the bench) where I feel like I can leverage it too.”