SEATTLE — No matter how much work Ben Rice did at first base on the backfields of Tampa or before games — and there was plenty — none of it could quite make up for the experience he gets there during actual games.
In that regard, he remains a work in progress.
But that does not mean Rice cannot be impactful at the position as he continues to grow into it, as he showed during the Yankees’ opening series of the season in which he handled himself well.
“About as pleased as you can be,” Rice said after the Yankees finished a sweep of the Giants at Oracle Park. “Mostly everything’s been pretty routine at this point. But to convert some plays for the guys has felt good.”
That Rice made an impact with his bat in Saturday’s series finale was no surprise, which is why the Yankees have made the former catcher their full-time first baseman. And while that transition came with some growing pains last year, there is reason to believe he will become more dependable for them defensively the more he plays there.
“He’s been a guy throughout his minor league career that you give him a challenge, he’s been able to conquer it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He keeps getting better over there and we need him to keep doing it.”
There are nuances of the position that come up during live games that are almost impossible to replicate during drill work. Aaron Judge, while lauding Rice’s defense, pointed one out from Saturday’s game: With the infield shifted toward the left side, Matt Chapman hit a high chopper in between first and second base. Rice had to make a snap decision on whether to go field the ball or cover first base, and he chose the former, fielding it cleanly and flipping accurately to a covering Will Warren at first base for the out.
Rice, who made a pair of nice scoops in Wednesday’s opener, also started a key 3-6-1 double play on Saturday and then was on the receiving end of the Yankees’ three other late-game double plays.
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“All in all, it speaks volumes to the work he put in in the offseason,” Judge said. “I saw the work he put in in January. He was bouncing from Field 1 doing first base, going out to the bullpen catching, coming into the cage hitting. Just seeing the work he put in, it didn’t matter the day, I knew he was going to be there for a while. I love seeing it pay off here in the regular season.”
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As he was for most of last season and all spring, Rice is a busy man pregame. He was not in the lineup Friday as Paul Goldschmidt — who has worked closely with Rice at the position — got the start against a left-hander (the only one the Yankees are scheduled to face in their first nine games), so he spent time working at first base and then threw on his catcher’s gear to do more behind the plate.
The Yankees still want to keep catching in Rice’s back pocket — it may become more relevant as early as Anthony Volpe’s return from the injured list, when they will need a bench spot and could be forced to send backup catcher J.C. Escarra to Triple-A — but they spent the spring using him exclusively at first base to get him as many game reps as possible.
“I think just the more games I get under my belt, the more comfortable I’m going to feel,” Rice said. “I can do as much practice as I want, but the reality is I got to keep getting game reps to keep feeling better. So hopefully we continue in that direction.”
