"Best shape of his life!"
"Added 10 pounds of muscle!"
"God, I'd do him! On home plate!"
On that note, Ben Rice is this year's swimsuit edition, the writers reacting like meat-market judges in a Bowen Yang SNL skit. He arrived in camp "noticeably bigger and more filled out through his chest and arms," said Mike Axisa (the greatest Yank blogger; subscribe to his Patreon.) Don't have new beautistics or a Speedo moment. We'll have to accept their admiring words.
Rice, himself, says he's hitting balls harder. And Saturday, he hit the hardest ball of his life - 113.3 mph, according to the Exit Velo thingy. Aaron Boone cooed, "He's added really good weight!" a line that the rest of us will never hear.
Look, we all want Rice to succeed. He checks every box. He's 26. He bats LH. He graduated from Dartmouth. (His dad, Brown.) Degree in psychology. He grew up behind enemy lines - Massachusetts - a Yank fan. Last year, he hit 3 HRs in one game, first Yank rookie in history to do so.
I'm not asking for The Incredible Hulk. If Rice can hit - say, 15 HRs and .270 - he could...
a. Be our lefty platoon DH
b. Be an occasional lefty platoon at 1B
c. Be a back-up catcher with pop
d. Save us from a month of Dominic Smith
Yeah, a cheap shot on Smith there. But really, on Opening Day, could anything be more hope-crushing than a lineup with Smith batting 4th? What's that? You say it can't happen? Look around, pal.
These days, nothing cannot not happen.
It's nice that Rice spent winter in the gym. But his problem last year - he hit .171 - was swinging and missing, especially big league curveballs. Bigger arms might send balls farther, but they won't necessarily help him make contact.
A vast, deep chasm separates Yankee teams with and without a solid-hitting Ben Rice. If he can breakout, the Yankees can probably survive the spring losses of Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu. But if Rice doesn't hit, it's a short pathway to Dom Smith and a weak bottom half of the order. It's night and day, muscles or not.
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11 comments:
Soon, we all might have weak bottom half’s, IF:
You know what I mean
You catch my drift
You’re already there
Soon Mr Rice will be bench pressing the ladies and, getting
blown, uh, uhm, your know…elbows.
We might just trade Rice to San Francisco for pitching, thus
making him a San Francisco Treat.
Stay tuned.
COFFEE time
And yesterday Gleyber provided the last back in a back to back to back HR display by the Tigers. Go get 'em, Space Cadet.
I would rather see Rice get a lot of playing time, whether it's at first or DH. Maybe even catching, though I don't think so. What the hell. Like Duque says, it's better than this Smith character batting fourth--or anywhere else.
As usual, we'll field a lineup with holes big enough to drive a truck through. Or a decent splitter.
The deeply flawed and damaged mentality of this post's reasoning ... [throws hands up]
Look, I hope I’m wrong but the guy hit .171 with an OPS of .613 last year, with an unbelievable.053 BA /.167 OPS his last month of service, including zero extra base hits. That doesn’t exactly breed confidence, weight gain or not. Consider that Smith, bad as he is, easily outshined him last year.
How'd he do against Grisham?
"Yankees’ Anthony Volpe is swinging harder than ever. Can he bring that power to the regular season?"
The Athletic is very excited about Young Tony. They also mention that he's 3 for 16 this Spring. But, boy, all those outs sure were scary, eh?
Miss strikes hard…..
Two years ago Tony the local phenom was all ready to "tap into his power", from the get-go swinging out of his shoes, hit 21 homers, 60 RBIs. That's good if not for the 28% strike out rate and the .209 average and the 8% walks and one stolen base every seven games from the little fast table setter guy.
Last year our little phenom cut down on his swing in order to be the little table setter, home runs dropped to 12, but RBIs stayed at 60, strike outs dropped to 22%, OPS+ up to 86 from 81, average up to .243. So, progress!
But of course this being the Yankees, who can't seem to quit with the over-coaching a guy and let him develop into the player he is by nature here we go again with the heel swinging.
Grisham’s performance last year was only slightly better than Rice’s, with a .191 BA / ,675 OPS. Grisham has been below average.200 for the last 3 seasons, and had the lowest BA in all of MLB in 2022. He does have 2 Gold Gloves as a CF, though I can recall him loafing in the field last year. I was surprised and disappointed the team brought him back this year.
Duque: The question is will the Yankees give Rice a shor. Much better as a backup catcher and first baseman. Possibly the DH. Alexander, who cannot hit a lick should not be in consideration. He acnnot hit. Will Warren, Schmidt and Lombard Jr. be given a hot. Hal talks about the Yankees young talent. let's see it.
Axisa reports DJLM “out for weeks”
“I’m shocked!” Said by: no one.
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