NEW YORK — Ben Rice turned on a fastball Friday night and sent it 433 feet into the Yankee Stadium night sky, a three-run shot that pushed his season total to 21 home runs for the Yankees. Three days earlier, he had said something that Yankees fans cannot stop thinking about.
Another big swing in a breakout season
Rice’s blast came with two outs in the second inning against Cincinnati Reds starter Rhett Lowder. The ball left his bat at 109.1 mph and landed in straightaway center field, extending the Yankees’ lead to 4-0 in what became a 5-0 win. It was the kind of swing that has carried the Yankees offense for weeks.
The 27-year-old first baseman is batting .320 over his last six games, going 8-for-25 with three homers and seven RBIs in that stretch. Since May 26, his numbers are even more striking. Rice is hitting .333 across 20 games, with five home runs, 19 RBIs and an OPS over 1.000.
That production has made Rice the centerpiece of a Yankees lineup that lost Aaron Judge to a fractured rib earlier this month. Yankees starter Cam Schlittler, who struck out a career-high 13 batters in Friday’s win, made the case plainly when asked about his teammate.
“He’s the lead man,” Schlittler said of Rice, who now has 21 homers and 52 RBIs on the season. “He’s a front-runner right now, and with Judge being out now, guys have stepped up and he’s been a huge piece of that and you expect that out of him.”
A comment fans cannot stop talking about
None of that production has quieted the anxiety building around Rice this week. The source of it traces back to comments he made about next month’s All-Star Home Run Derby.
“If I were to get asked to go, I would love to do it,” Rice said. “I have not heard anything about it, but sure, I’d be interested. I’ve watched it every year. It would be fun.”
The 2026 Home Run Derby is set for July 13 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, part of All-Star festivities that include the All-Star Game the following day. Rice currently sits second in the American League with his home run total, behind only Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in fan voting at his position. If Major League Baseball extends an invitation, the Yankees first baseman has made clear he plans to accept.
Fans remember what happened to Chisholm
That willingness is exactly what worries a large portion of the Yankees fan base. They remember what happened to Rice’s Yankees teammate Jazz Chisholm Jr. a year ago.
Chisholm entered the 2025 Derby batting .230 with 17 homers before the All-Star break. He was eliminated in the first round after managing just three home runs. What followed concerned Yankees fans far more than the early exit. In his first 20 games after the break, Chisholm hit just .197 with a .568 OPS and only two home runs, a slump some attributed to mechanical changes picked up during Derby swings.
Fans have not held back on social media since Rice’s comments became public. Many have invoked Chisholm directly, urging Rice to reconsider before his swing gets altered the same way.
The science behind the Derby fear
The concern is not without precedent across the sport. Maximum-effort Derby swings often push hitters toward low pitches and high launch angles, a pattern that can bleed into regular game at-bats and disrupt timing built over a full season. Power hitters from multiple Derby fields have struggled in the second half following appearances, fueling a long-running theory among fans and some analysts that the event can do lasting damage to a swing.
Rice does not see it that way. He has called the idea that the Derby ruins a hitter’s mechanics an old wives tale, pointing out that plenty of players have competed without lasting effects.
A father and son Derby plan
There is a personal angle to Rice’s interest in the event that has nothing to do with mechanics. If he qualifies for the eight player field, Rice plans to ask his father, a Massachusetts attorney who pitched at Brown University, to serve as his Derby pitcher. The two have worked together on his left handed swing for years, dating back to countless sessions during Rice’s playing days at Dartmouth.
Rice’s case for inclusion extends beyond highlight reel power. He is also in contention for the American League’s starting first base job, currently trailing only Guerrero in the latest fan voting update. The top two vote getters advance to a second phase of balloting next week, with the winner earning the start in Philadelphia.
Yankees history with the Derby
Seven Yankees have appeared in the Home Run Derby across club history, with four winning the event outright. Tino Martinez took the title for the Yankees in 1997, Jason Giambi won in 2002, Robinson Cano claimed it in 2011 and Judge won as a rookie in 2017. Judge has since turned down repeated invitations, citing concerns about the event affecting his swing, a stance that lines up with the worries Yankees fans now have about Rice.
Whether Rice ultimately competes will likely become clear once Major League Baseball finalizes the eight player field in the coming weeks. For now, Yankees fans are left watching one of the best stretches of his career unfold for the Yankees while bracing for what might come after it.
Friday’s performance pushed the Yankees to their ninth win in 11 games, keeping New York comfortably positioned in the American League East with Rice continuing to anchor the lineup in Judge’s absence.
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