How the Yankees discovered newest slugger

NEW YORK – At heart, Ben Rice is a hockey guy.

“I was better at hockey for most of my life until high school,’’ said Rice, on a recent afternoon at Yankee Stadium. “I made varsity hockey my freshman year, but I got cut in baseball.’’

In fact, Rice’s NHL dreams preceded anything connected to MLB.

“I was hockey all the way up until baseball turned out to be the best option, to be honest.’’

In a way, ice hockey has a connection in the Yankees’ earliest ties to Rice, during the 2020 COVID year.

Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer took up residence in Malden, Mass., where his son played prep school hockey.

“Those kids who play that sport, they just have a different way,” said Oppenheimer. “There’s a different set of guts that goes with that and it translates over into baseball.”

By the fall of 2020, Rice, who attended Dartmouth, along with some friends from Harvard and UMass had formed an impromptu baseball league in nearby Northborough.

Having already told Yankees’ area scout Matt Hyde that “I’m going to be a pain in the (rear), I need to do things up here,’’ Oppenheimer began watching Rice play catcher and slam college pitching.

“It wasn’t a real huge park’’ at Northborough,’’ said Oppenheimer, who saw Rice “hit so many balls into the bushes that you couldn’t find’’ that he wondered if the Yankees might have to donate buckets of baseballs to keep the league going.

“Damon must have seen him 20 times. We were regulars there,’’ said Hyde. “We ended up calling it ‘The Ben Rice League.’ ’’

Ben Rice’s power: “It was just a different sound off the bat”

Earlier that COVID year, Northeast showcase leagues – including the famed Cape Cod League – were being canceled.

“The only show in town was the Futures Collegiate League,’’ said Hyde, who watched Rice become the league’s MVP during an abbreviated summer schedule.

“If it was tied after nine innings, they’d do a home run hitting contest,’’ said Hyde. “And the Worcester Bravehearts would always send up Ben as their representative.’’

That summer and fall, Hyde grew accustomed to the “real left-handed power’’ Rice possessed, and Oppenheimer was becoming sold, too.

“The physicality stood out,’’ said Oppenheimer. “On top of that he’s a left-handed hitter and the power was there, the impact was really good. You heard it, you saw it.

“And his desire,’’ not just as a hitter, but as a catcher.

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When the Ivy League canceled its 2021 spring baseball season, Hyde went to see Rice hit indoors, against his father, who pitched at Brown University.

“He’d take a nice BP, and then his dad would try to get him out and they’d have these competitive at-bats,’’ said Hyde. “It was just a different sound off the bat.’’

Hyde’s instincts were reaffirmed before the 2021 draft, when Rice played for the Braintree White Sox in the independent Cranberry League.

Erik Turgeon, a friend of Hyde’s who played at UConn and made it to Triple-A, texted him: “We’ve got this kid playing for us who’s the best lefty-hitting catcher I’ve ever seen.’’

Rice went to the Yankees in the 12^th round, having played just 30 college baseball games.

Yankees’ belief in a young Ben Rice

Hyde was at the Stadium for Rice’s MLB debut last June 18, and they facetimed with Oppenheimer on the field afterward.

“His joy and enthusiasm for being in the big leagues was unbelievable. It kind of put me at ease,’’ said Hyde. “He’s not nervous. He’s really appreciating it, he’s embracing this opportunity.’’

In his 17^th MLB game, Rice hit three home runs against the Boston Red Sox, a game Hyde followed on his iPhone during his son’s Little League game.

From that point, Rice batted .109 with a .431 OPS in 33 games, and did not play in the postseason.

Still, “I don’t think you can put a value on that time he spent up there last year where he was able to learn and adjust,’’ said Oppenheimer. “Now, it’s not all foreign to him, so I think, that part is a real big deal.’’

Over the winter, Rice added at least 10 pounds of muscle and regained the Yankees’ attention by barreling pitches throughout the Grapefruit League.

Giancarlo Stanton’s elbow injuries left a void at DH, and Rice, 26, has stepped in with a .904 OPS and eight homers over his first 33 games.

Whether DH, first base or catcher is in Rice’s pinstriped future, his power swing and plate discipline will determine it.

“I think that confidence is part of what makes him successful,’’ said Hyde. “He keeps it simple…and he loves that competition of pitcher vs. hitter, and that challenge drives him to have success.’’