Ben Rice (baseball)

Benjamin Kimball Rice (born February 22, 1999) is an American professional baseball first baseman for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. He made his MLB debut in 2024.

Early life
Rice grew up in Cohasset, Massachusetts. He began playing hockey at a young age before pursuing baseball. He was a New York Yankees fan despite most of his friends supporting the Boston Red Sox; his favorite player was Derek Jeter.

Career
Rice attended Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts, and Dartmouth College, where he played college baseball for the Dartmouth Big Green. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Dartmouth. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decreased playing opportunities, but Rice helped organize scrimmages among Ivy League baseball players in the fall of 2020 to offset this. In 2021, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Cotuit Kettleers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Minor leagues
Rice was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 12th round, with the 363rd overall selection, of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft. Rice spent his first professional season with the rookie–level Florida Complex League Yankees and Single–A Tampa Tarpons, hitting .197 in 23 combined games.

Rice spent the 2022 campaign back with Tampa, playing in 68 games and hitting .267/.368/.442 with nine home runs and 36 RBI. He started the 2023 with Tampa before being promoted to the High–A Hudson Valley Renegades and Double–A Somerset Patriots during the season. In 73 games split between the three affiliates, Rice accumulated a .324/.434/.615 slash line with 20 home runs, 68 RBI, and 11 stolen bases.

Rice began the 2024 season with Somerset and was promoted to the Triple–A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on June 5.

Major leagues
On June 18, 2024, the Yankees promoted Rice to the major leagues for the first time. He made his debut that day against the Baltimore Orioles. He recorded his first major league hit in the third inning with a single to right field. On July 6, in a game against the Boston Red Sox, Rice became the first rookie in Yankees history to hit three home runs in a single game; his seven runs batted in also matched Lou Gehrig's record for a Yankee rookie.

Personal life
Rice's father, Dan, played college baseball for Brown University.