Yankees calling up hot prospect Ben Rice to replace Anthony Rizzo
The Yankees are giving Ben Rice’s bat a shot.
With Anthony Rizzo sidelined for four to six weeks, the Yankees are promoting Rice to help fill the void at first base, The Post’s Joel Sherman reported.
Rice, a 25-year-old first base/catching prospect, is hitting .275 with 15 homers and 36 RBIs this season spanning Double-A and Triple-A.
He’s crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .333/.440/.619 slashline in 11 games.
His promotion comes with the Yankees set to welcome the Orioles to The Bronx for a three-game showdown with huge AL East ramifications beginning Tuesday.
In the aftermath of Rizzo’s injury, the Yankees will have to figure out how to handle first base for the foreseeable future and possibly longer.
In promoting Rice, the Yankees seemingly are going for the upside play over just re-arranging the existing pieces. It would have been easy for the Yankees to just shift D.J. LeMahieu — who is struggling — to first base and use either Oswaldo Cabrera or once-touted prospect Oswaldo Peraza at third base.
Instead, it appears the Yankees want to see if Rice can stay hot at a position where the Yankees have received little production this year.
Yankees first basemen have produced a .642 OPS this season, the sixth-lowest mark in MLB.
Rice is the Yankees’ No. 12 prospect, according to MLB.com, and has displayed strong offensive skills since being selected in the 12th round of the 2021 draft.
He posted an .894 OPS in 49 games with Double-A Somerset before the Yankees promoted him to Triple-A, where he didn’t cool off.
For his minors career, Rice is slashing .284/.397/.523 with a .920 OPS, and has tallied 47 homers and 153 RBIs. He also has stolen 25 bases in 30 career attempts.
Rice has struck out a decent amount this year — 56 times in 268 plate appearances (20.9 percent) — but he could provide a jolt to a Yankee lineup needing production outside of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
The lefty slugger can also play catcher, which could, in theory, help the Yankees be more aggressive with pinch hitting in the late innings, if needed.
If Rice shows he can stick at the major-league level, it could play a role in how the Yankees address first base at the trade deadline.
