ARLINGTON, Texas — A Yankees first baseman not yet 26 years old walked back to the dugout Monday night, looked at the best hitter on the planet and basically told him to keep up. That moment, and the laugh that followed, may end up being the most important thing to happen in baseball this April.
Ben Rice had just launched his 10th home run of the 2026 season into the left-center bullpen at Globe Life Field. Aaron Judge, the Yankees captain hitting right behind him, then stepped in and answered with his 11th. When Judge returned to the dugout, he reportedly jabbed his teammate. Rice, grinning, turned the needle right back around.
The joke that revealed a rivalry within a rivalry
Context matters here. Judge is a three-time AL MVP and the reigning AL batting champion. He owns the American League single-season home run record. So when Rice, a second-year big leaguer, joked that he was keeping his captain “honest” because Judge was getting “a little complacent,” it meant something.
“I’m just trying to keep him honest, keep him motivated. He’s getting a little complacent!,” Ben Rice told.
The joke landed because it carried truth inside the humor. Rice was not simply making a quip. He was making a statement. Through 29 Yankees games this season, he is not riding a hot streak. The Yankees’ lowest-paid slugger is playing at an elite level that no one outside the Yankees clubhouse saw coming this soon.
His batting average stands at .322. His OPS sits at 1.191, second in all of baseball only to the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez. He has 10 home runs, 23 RBIs and 21 walks. His .744 slugging percentage and .447 on-base percentage are not numbers for a player finding his footing. They are numbers that put him among the Yankees’ most productive hitters in the early-season record books.
History made in the third inning
The back-to-back home runs in the Yankees’ 4-2 win over Texas were not just highlights. They were history.
Rice and Judge made six records. became only the second pair of Yankees teammates ever to each reach double-digit home runs in the club’s first 29 games. The last duo to do it was Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in 1956. That Yankees team won the World Series.
MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs confirmed a second milestone. The Yankees’ Judge and Rice became the first pair of teammates in major league history to each post at least 10 home runs and 20 walks before the end of April. The only prior pair to hit both figures in a team’s first 29 games was Jim Edmonds and Mark McGwire of the 2000 Cardinals. Their combined 21 home runs already exceed the full-team home run totals of five MLB franchises, including the Red Sox and Mets.
Rice also became the third Yankee to reach 10 home runs and 25 runs scored before May, joining Alex Rodriguez (2007) and Yankees captain Judge (2025).
What Rice’s shot looked like and what it means
Globe Life Field plays as a pitchers’ park. The left-center alley sits 372 feet from home plate. Rice, a left-handed Yankees first baseman, poked a 404-foot shot to the opposite-field bullpen on a ball that traveled on a line. It was the kind of contact that tells scouts this is not a power surge that will fade.
His Statcast profile backs that up. Rice is averaging 95.9 mph exit velocity with a 65.5 percent hard-hit rate. He hit the ball just as hard in 2025 but found fewer holes. This year, those results have arrived.
Manager Aaron Boone watched both homers from the dugout steps and pivoted quickly from Rice’s shot to what Judge did next.
“Man, that ball was pummeled. This is a ballpark they’ll tell you doesn’t yield a lot of home runs,” the Yankees skipper said.” To hit a line drive into the bullpen the other way, impressive. The only thing more impressive was the breaking ball that Judgey rifled into the seats right after him. So it was a little bit of a hold-your-beer moment.”
Judge and Fried weigh in on what Rice has become
Judge has watched Rice’s development from a front-row seat. After the homers, he was asked what it looks like watching Rice step in every day.
“It’s must-watch TV at this point,” said Aaron Judge. “He steps up to the plate, it doesn’t matter: Nobody’s on, guy on, tough situation. He’s gonna put something in play hard, or he’s gonna take his walk and pass the baton. It makes my job easy when he does that.”
Starting pitcher Max Fried, who threw six scoreless innings for the Yankees’ win, was asked about facing Judge and Rice. His take was brief.
“I’m glad I don’t have to face them, let’s put it that way: Max Fried added. “Those are two of the best hitters in the game, and they’re feeding off each other.”
Yankees surge to best record in the AL
The win pushed the Yankees to 19-10, matching the franchise record for wins through this point in a season. Only the 2003 Yankees, who finished April at 21-8, have more April wins in franchise history. New York has won 10 of its last 12 games.
The Yankees’ road numbers have been remarkable, too. According to analyst Katie Sharp, New York has posted 11-plus wins while allowing 40 or fewer runs in its first 16 road games. That has happened only three times in Yankees franchise history, in 1917, 1958 and now 2026.
Rice was asked whether he thought the Yankees’ pace could hold. He stayed in the process.
“I don’t know how long this is gonna last, but I’m enjoying it right now being this close,” said Ben Rice.
That closeness is what gives the Yankees an offensive threat no rival has a clean answer for. No AL pitching staff has solved Judge. None has solved Rice. Facing both in the same inning, with Judge protecting behind, is a problem that figures to follow opposing managers all summer. The Yankees have served notice.
What do you think? How many homers each of them can hit this season?
