NEW YORK — For most of the first half, the loudest name in the Yankees clubhouse belonged to a first baseman. Ben Rice turned into a power source the team did not see coming, and the noise around him only grew as the All-Star break neared.
Rice hit 29 home runs, posted a .941 OPS and earned a trip to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game. The Yankees slugger also participated in the Home Run Derby, with his father pitching to him. For a player who was fighting to stay on the roster a year ago, it was a stunning leap.
The attention made sense. With Aaron Judge sidelined by a rib injury for much of the first half, Rice carried the middle of the Yankees lineup. He became the face of the offense and the easy pick for casual fans asked to name the team’s best player.
Yet the numbers point somewhere else. When one national outlet sorted the roster by value at the break, the name at the top was not Rice. It belonged to a right-hander who arrived as an afterthought and now anchors the Yankees rotation.
The number that reframed the debate
Cam Schlittler commands more credibility as the Yankees’ first-half team MVP, not Rice. The choice rested on impact more than headlines. Schlittler entered the break leading the club in Wins Above Replacement at 4.1, ahead of Cody Bellinger, Rice and Judge.
The Yankees MVP case is built on run prevention and volume. Schlittler carried a 2.05 ERA into the break across 20 starts and 118 2/3 innings, the lowest ERA in the majors. He struck out 137 batters, walked few and posted a 0.94 WHIP. Only a handful of pitchers in the league matched that combination.
After a rough outing to close June in Detroit, Schlittler responded with a dominant start in a key series.
“After getting hammered on the last day of June in Detroit, Schlittler’s gem Monday in a key series opener at Tampa Bay (eight innings, one run) showed he remains on a Cy Young trajectory. The Yankees have needed every inning of it,” ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle wrote.
Why the rotation made him indispensable
The value grows when set against the state of the pitching staff. The rotation was gutted by injuries in the first half. Gerrit Cole missed the start of the season, and by the break the Yankees were also without Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt. None of the healthy veterans made more than 10 starts.
That left Schlittler as the one arm the Yankees could count on every fifth day. He took the ball, shut down opponents and handed a thin bullpen a lead to protect. In a first half full of injuries, that reliability was the difference between staying in the race and falling out of it.
The contrast with Rice matters here. Rice’s bat was outstanding, but the Yankees have other hitters. Bellinger posted a higher WAR by one measure, and Judge, when healthy, remains the game’s most feared slugger. On the mound, Schlittler had no equivalent backup.
The result was a team that leaned on a second-year starter to hold everything together. The Yankees reached the break at 54-42, clinging to a wild-card spot and three games back in the AL East. Schlittler’s innings were a large part of why.
The quiet ace who embraced the grind
Schlittler’s rise is unlikely. He was a seventh-round pick out of Northeastern who sat 92-93 mph in college and profiled as a long shot. The Yankees saw projection in his 6-foot-6 frame and bet on development.
The bet paid off after he committed to the club’s pitching program in Tampa. He added strength, cleaned up his mechanics and watched his velocity climb. He now challenges hitters with three different fastballs, and he credits the work behind the gains.
Asked about the leap, the Yankees ace kept the focus on his own belief and the environment around him. He spoke plainly about trusting his stuff after the adjustments took hold.
“I feel like I’m pretty confident in myself. It’s easy when you have great guys in this locker room to help,” Schlittler told MLB.com. “Ever since I’ve made some adjustments, I’ve really seen great progress, and I trust my stuff.”
Boone has watched the transformation up close. The Yankees manager sees a pitcher who takes coaching and applies it, a trait he values as much as the raw velocity.
“He still feels like the same guy. He’s a little silly in between starts and has a very light, easy way about him,” Boone said. “But what I like about him is, he’s very coachable. You can get on him, you can tell him different things, and he’s going to apply it. He’s a very confident kid.”
What it means heading into the second half
Schlittler chose not to pitch in the All-Star Game, opting to rest and prepare for the Yankees’ second half. He remained on the roster and said he would stay ready in case the team needed him. The decision reflected where his focus sits.
His goal, in his own words, is bigger than individual honors. The Yankees ace framed the season around winning rather than the praise that has started to follow him.
“People can really say whatever they want; it doesn’t matter. I think I’m going to thrive in the biggest moments,” Schlittler said. “The goal is to win a championship. Whatever I can do to lead us to that is the most important thing.”
Rice will keep drawing the crowds, and his power will keep the Yankees offense dangerous. But the first half told a quieter story underneath the noise. The team’s most valuable player spent it on the mound, and the second half may rest on his right arm.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
