NEW YORK – The excitement of a memorable victory over the Angels still lingered late on Monday when Aaron Boone found Ben Rice in the Yankees’ clubhouse with a message: He wouldn’t be in the lineup on Tuesday, but he should be ready.
To Rice, watching Paul Goldschmidt start against a left-hander – in this case, Reid Detmers – doesn’t mean a day off. Boone said he values being able to “cherry pick” when to deploy Rice, who entered Tuesday leading the Majors in on-base percentage (.508) and OPS (1.253).
“I’m familiar with the role,” Rice said. “I had that a lot last year, so no different this year. I’m experienced with it, and I know if I’m not starting, there’s a good chance that I’m going to be in there in a high-leverage situation against one of their back-end righties.”
Boone said his initial plan was to play Rice on Tuesday, but that changed after the Yankees’ fifth-inning rally on Monday. Rice hit for Amed Rosario against right-hander Shaun Anderson, working a walk that helped set up Trent Grisham’s game-tying three-run homer.
Later, Rice stroked a single against Mitch Farris, improving to 3-for-11 (.273) against lefties this season.
“I’ve just been able to so aggressively use Benny, even though he’s not in the starting lineup,” Boone said. “I’ve been able to kind of fire him at the most important part – and it might be early in the game.”
Boone also referenced Rice’s eighth-inning homer on April 10 against the Rays at Tropicana Field, the first pinch-hit blast of Rice’s young career.
When Rice isn’t in the lineup, his preparation begins early. He’ll mix in work on the Trajekt machine, but Rice leans heavily on video to formulate a plan.
“I look mainly at their high-leverage right-handed relievers – all their relievers, really,” Rice said. “If you look at [Monday], I went in there pretty early, so I just prepare for any and all situations that I could go in.
“That way, when the pinch AB does arrive, it doesn’t speed me up too much. When you spawn into the game, if you’re unprepared, that’s when things start to speed up. I try to prepare as much as possible so I can go in with confidence.”
Given Rice’s studious nature, does this role suit him? He laughed and said, “I sure hope so.”
“I’m definitely going to have a lot more opportunities in that role,” Rice said. “I’ve gotten more experienced with it. We don’t do a lot of pinch-hitting coming up in the Minors. I didn’t ever get any pinch-hit ABs. Now, it’s something I’ve learned to prepare for.”
Ideally, the Yankees would give Rice consistent at-bats against both lefties and righties. Boone said he believes Rice will hit southpaws, but he’s balancing that against Goldschmidt’s presence on the roster.
The Yankees re-signed Goldschmidt this past February specifically to face left-handed pitching. He entered play Tuesday with two doubles in eight at-bats (.250) this year against lefties; Goldschmidt hit .336 with a .981 OPS against them last season.
“We’re in a unique spot,” Boone said. “Goldy’s superpower at this point in his career is, he’s really great against left-handed pitching.”
When Goldschmidt signed, Boone envisioned scenarios where Rice would be behind the plate more. That hasn’t occurred; Rice remains the third catcher behind Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra.
Rice hardly caught in Spring Training games, limited to mostly drills and side sessions. Boone said he would put Rice behind the plate – he caught Carlos Rodón’s three-inning outing on Monday – but he isn’t ready to play Rice for five to seven innings there.
“He hadn’t caught a lot in the spring because we were focused so much on first base and doing a lot of his workload there,” Boone said. “I feel like we’ll get there, but we want to keep the focus on a lot of his first base work as well.”
Rice said that between catching sides like Rodón’s outing and eventually getting into games, he’ll be able to build up his catching stamina quickly.
“I think we’ll figure out ways to do it,” Rice said. “Maybe there will be a time where I go in there for five innings and then go over to first base. Or maybe like last year, I’ll go in and catch a few toward the end of the game. However it works, I’ll be ready whenever it happens.”