{"id":43051,"date":"2025-03-21T11:38:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T11:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=43051"},"modified":"2025-03-21T11:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T11:38:56","slug":"yankees-circling-modern-solution-to-giancarlo-stanton-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=43051","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Circling Modern Solution to Giancarlo Stanton Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ben-Rice.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ben-Rice.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ben-Rice.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ben-Rice.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Yankees Circling Modern Solution to Giancarlo Stanton Problem\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>New York Yankees slugger Ben Rice<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Questions have abounded throughout spring training over who\u00a0the <\/span>New York Yankees <span data-contrast=\"auto\"> would end up using at designated hitter.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Since <\/span>Giancarlo Stanton left camp early with pain in both elbows <span data-contrast=\"auto\">, which will likely keep him sidelined <\/span>until at least the end of May <span data-contrast=\"auto\">, pundits have offered plenty of suggestions <\/span>as to who the Yankees could target <span data-contrast=\"auto\"> in a trade or free agency to replace the slugger.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">But perhaps the answer has been there all along.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In Wednesday\u2019s <\/span>9-7 win over the Phillies <span data-contrast=\"auto\">, <\/span>Ben Rice <span data-contrast=\"auto\"> hit his <\/span>team-best fifth home run <span data-contrast=\"auto\"> of the spring. He also added a pair of walks, and despite a 0-for-4 game on Thursday, Rice boasts a spring slash line of .260\/.339\/.899 with 9 RBIs, tied for third on the team.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cIt\u2019s fun to watch,\u201d said Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger. \u201cFun to watch him work, and it seems as if he has a really good idea of what he wants and what he wants to accomplish.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Ben Rice Hitting Baseballs With Eye-Popping Exit Velocity<\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">But it\u2019s not just what the left-handed swinger is accomplishing, it\u2019s how he\u2019s accomplishing it. The home run Rice hit on Wednesday off of Phillies starter Taijuan Walker left his bat at a sizzling 110.3 mph. <\/span>In Monday\u2019s game <span data-contrast=\"auto\">, a 6-5 loss to Toronto, Rice blasted his fourth home run of the spring, a 415-footer that came off the bat at 105.8 mph. And that was just the second-fastest hit for Rice on that night, as he also ripped an RBI single at 111.1 mph.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201c[Rice is] controlling every at-bat, it seems, and hitting the absolute (expletive) out of the ball,\u201d Bellinger said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Through Monday, Rice\u2019s average exit velocity this spring was 97.4 mph, which was among the highest marks of any hitter this spring (for reference, Aaron Judge led the majors in the regular season last year with an average exit velocity of 96.2).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cIt\u2019s impressive,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cHe can hit.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cIt\u2019s real juice everywhere.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Ben Rice Could Provide Yankees With Answer at DH<\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A round 12 pick in the 2021 Draft, the 26-year-old Rice slashed .171\/.264\/.613 in 152 at-bats as a rookie in 2024, with 7 home runs and 23 RBIs. Since last season, Rice has added 10 pounds of muscle, and he said that has made a noticeable difference for him at the plate.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cIt definitely helps,\u201d said Rice, who had an average exit velocity of 90 mph last season. \u201cIt\u2019s just putting more force in the ball, more mass behind it. Put it in the air, good things are going to happen.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Primarily a first baseman, Rice can also play catcher, a skill that gives him an extra boost as Rice hopes to earn a roster spot with the Yankees as spring training winds down.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cI don\u2019t see this as a complete mystery guess,\u201d Joel Sherman <\/span>said about keeping Rice as the DH on the Pinstripe Post podcast <span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cI think on our first show of spring, I said the Yankees think he\u2019s going to be a five-hole hitter. That\u2019s where he\u2019s going to get. Now, did they think he was going to get there in 2025? I\u2019m not sure that they thought that, but he does not lack for confidence.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559737&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:279}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Dave Benson Dave Benson is a longtime writer with over three decades of experience in a variety of mediums, including 15 years covering high school, collegiate and minor league sports in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Dave is also a licensed English teacher and spent a few years teaching at the middle school level. More about Dave Benson<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Yankees News<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Left-handed slugger Ben Rice has been crushing the ball this spring, giving the New York Yankees a viable option at designated hitter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yankees Circling Modern Solution to Giancarlo Stanton Problem - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=43051\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yankees Circling Modern Solution to Giancarlo Stanton Problem - 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