MINNEAPOLIS — With Aaron Judge back in the fold, Ben Rice no longer has the onus on him to be the Yankees leading man.
Instead, he has just become their leadoff man, and a dangerous-looking one at that.
Rice has spent the last few weeks looking more like the hitter that did his best Judge impression in the early part of the season, just in time for the stretch run and what the Yankees hope is into the postseason.
After going 2-for-3 with a walk — including the go-ahead two-run base hit in the eighth inning — in the Yankees’ series-opening 8-3 win over the Twins, Rice has reached base multiple times in 16 of his last 23 games (since Aug. 19), batting .333 with 14 RBIs during that stretch, including home runs in three of his last nine games.
Along the way — Aug. 31 to be exact — Rice took over for Trent Grisham as the regular leadoff hitter against righties, a role he looks primed to remain in heading toward October as a strong threat to get on base and add some slug while he’s at it.
“I think he went through a stretch there where he really started squaring a lot of balls up,” manager Aaron Boone said before Monday’s game. “And then on the heels of that, the walks started coming into play, where I feel like he’s doing a really good job of controlling the strike zone, which he typically does. But he goes through some stretches and has this year where that hasn’t been the case. But I feel like right now, he’s doing a really good job of controlling the zone and there’s obviously always that threat of slug in there.
“Feel like Benny’s in a good spot right now, hopefully at just the right time to be at his best.”
Rice homered in back-to-back games over the weekend against the Mets — one of them a leadoff blast Sunday — to give him 38 on the year, pulling him into a tie with Astros slugger and AL MVP favorite Yordan Alvarez for the second most in the American League, trailing only Rays star Junior Caminero.
That kind of impact has been critical for the Yankees during a season in which they were without Judge for three-plus months, even if Rice cooled off some while he was out.
After Judge played his last game May 31 before going for tests that revealed a broken rib, Rice was batting .306 with a 1.056 OPS and 17 home runs across 54 games. During his next 66 games, the first baseman/DH hit .204 with a .727 OPS and 16 home runs — a stretch that could have been worse if not for a mostly strong July — as Rice appeared to be getting pitched tougher without teams having to worry about Judge hitting in front of or behind him.
But around mid-August, Rice began to catch fire again, which along with Grisham’s struggles bumped him back into the leadoff spot, where he has spent stretches over the last three years (10 times in 2024, 21 in 2025 and Monday marking his 25th time there in 2026).
“I love it,” Judge said. “Great at-bats, he can pop a homer like he did [Sunday] to start off the game for us, or he’s going to give you a 9-, 10-pitch at-bat. When he’s leading off like that, I want him getting the most at-bats. It’s just fun to see him develop this whole year, going from being a 4-hitter, 3-hitter, 2-hitter, leadoff guy for us. … I love having him hit in front of me.”
If the Yankees can get Judge and Rice clicking at the right time heading into the playoffs — along with Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr. bringing the more contact-oriented approach with thump in the top half of the lineup — it will give them a formidable top four.
“Last year, [Rice] really came of age at this level and established himself as a force, as someone to be reckoned with,” Boone said. “Then this year, I think has ratcheted it up even more and become one of the better hitters in the game. He’s obviously had a great season on balance. I think he’s done a great job of, he’s obviously had some real hot stretches. Had a stretch where he struggled a little bit, but kind of weathered that storm too.”
