BOSTON — The Yankees arrived at Fenway Park this week with one of the best young bats and best young pitchers in the league, plucked right out of the Red Sox’ backyard.
Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler both grew up within a 30-mile radius of Fenway, then stayed local to play their college ball.
And yet it was the Yankees who drafted and developed the overlooked prospects — Rice a 12th-round pick in 2021 and Schlittler a seventh-rounder in 2022 — and are now reaping the rewards.
“I think players in this area tend to peak at a different rate than players in warmer parts of the country, for sure,” Matt Hyde, the Northeast area Yankees scout who signed Rice and Schlittler, along with Anthony Volpe, said Wednesday at Fenway Park. “Sometimes it takes a little longer to see what they can truly do. So there’s a lot of untapped potential that we’ve been able to tap into as the Yankees.”
