NEW YORK — Ben Rice was a 12th-round draft pick out of Dartmouth. Two years ago, he hit .171 in his rookie season and got sent back to the minors. Nobody outside the Yankees’ front office was writing his name alongside the best hitters in baseball.
Now one of the most respected voices in the sport just did exactly that.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan went on Sportsnet 590 The FAN this past week and made a claim about Rice that would have sounded absurd six months ago. It involves Juan Soto, $60 million a year, and a Yankees first baseman earning the league minimum.
Rice’s numbers are hard to ignore
Before getting to what Passan said, consider what Rice has done to earn the praise. Through 32 games, the Yankees first baseman is batting .330 with 11 home runs and 26 RBIs. His OPS of 1.169 leads all qualified hitters in baseball. Not in the American League. In all of Major League Baseball.
The 27-year-old ranks fourth in the majors in home runs and fifth in RBIs. Against left-handed pitching, a perceived weakness early in the season, Rice is hitting .367 with five homers. The Yankees had been sitting him against southpaws at times. That experiment is over.
Manager Aaron Boone addressed Rice’s surge before the Yankees’ series against Baltimore, framing it as a natural step in a progression that began during his 2024 debut.
“I just think we’re continuing to see the evolution of one of the game’s really outstanding hitters, simple as that,” Boone said. “He’s really disciplined, and he’s got a good plan night in and night out for who he’s facing and what he wants to look for, and he does a good job of controlling the zone.”
Boone then offered the description that has been circulating among Yankees fans all week.
“This is kind of that trajectory he’s been on since he first debuted. He’s just gotten better and better to the point of now he’s kind of been a wrecking ball.”
Passan’s bold Rice and Soto comparison
That wrecking ball reputation caught the attention of Passan, who was asked during his radio appearance whether Rice’s start is sustainable. The question carried weight because the Yankees let Juan Soto walk in free agency last winter. Soto signed a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets. The Yankees chose to spread their money elsewhere and bank on internal options.
Passan did not hedge. He declared Rice’s breakout legitimate and then took it a step further, arguing that the Yankees are getting more value from Rice on a minimum salary than they would from paying Soto $60 million a year.
“100 percent very real,” Passan said. “I say that as confidently as I do because the underlying data just supports it. Let’s not mistake that this came out of nowhere. The guy slugged .500 over a full season last year. He was really good last year. Is he this good? No, of course not. But is he an All-Star? Yes. Is he going to be doing this for years to come? Yes. Is he a guy who, at the minimum salary you might rather have in the lineup, instead of paying Juan Soto $60 million a year, you sure can make a decent argument about that.”
The $60 million argument
Passan continued by explaining the financial logic behind the comparison. With Rice producing at an elite level on a league-minimum contract, the $60 million the Yankees would have spent on Soto can be redirected across the roster. The result, Passan argued, is a stronger overall team.
“If you can take the $60 million and go and spread it out elsewhere, and you’re getting 90 percent of the production, and right now, even more production than you do with Soto. Ben Rice, what a find,” Passan said.
Passan then broadened his praise beyond Rice to the Yankees organization as a whole, crediting the player development system for turning a low-round pick into a franchise cornerstone.
“The Yankees player development process right now is really working, and that is a scary thing for the rest of the American League,” Passan said.
From 12th-round pick to the top of baseball
Rice’s path to this point has been anything but conventional for the Yankees. Selected 363rd overall out of Dartmouth in the 2021 draft, he spent three years grinding through the minor leagues before earning a call-up in June 2024. That debut produced a flash of power, including a three-homer game against Boston, but ended with a .171 batting average and a demotion.
Rice added roughly 10 pounds of muscle over the 2024 offseason. His 2025 campaign produced a .500 slugging percentage and showed the Yankees front office what they had. This year, the underlying metrics confirm the Yankees have a star. According to Baseball Savant, Rice sits in the 97th percentile in hard-hit percentage and carries a 95.0 mph average exit velocity.
The Yankees are 22-11 and sit atop the AL East. Rice and Aaron Judge, who has 12 home runs of his own, have combined for 23 homers through the first month. The lineup has become one of the most dangerous in the American League, and Rice is at the center of it.
Whether Rice sustains this pace for a full season remains an open question. But Passan’s point was clear. The Yankees may not have Soto. What the Yankees have in Rice, at a fraction of the cost, might be working out just fine.
Is Jeff Passan right that the Yankees are better off with Rice on a minimum salary than they would be paying Soto $60 million?
Let us know your take in the comments.
