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Yankees Must Find a Spot for Ben Rice When Star DH Returns

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The Yankees may face a dilemma when Giancarlo Stanton returns, as current DH Ben Rice (right) is off to a hot start at the plate.

When Giancarlo Stanton went down with elbow tendinitis earlier this spring, it looked like the offense would be lost for the New York Yankees. However, Stanton’s replacement has taken on the designated hitter role swimmingly. Ben Rice, who has hit in the DH spot in 12 of the Yankees’ first 14 games, has been an absolute force at the plate in the early going of this season. The only issue is, where will he go when Stanton regains his health?

Yankees Will Face Ben Rice Dilemma When Stanton Returns

Left-Handed Stanton

Though the Yankees surely miss last year’s ALCS MVP, Rice has put up numbers that look very similar, if not better, than the line Stanton would have produced. Over 13 games, the 26-year-old is hitting .310 with an OPS of 1.122, four homers, and 11 runs. Many of those runs have come thanks to manager Aaron Boone placing Rice in the leadoff spot in five games, with Rice scoring six runs in those games. Overall, the first baseman/catcher has been one of only a few bright spots in the Yankees’ lineup thus far.

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As good as these numbers are, they will only pose an even tougher problem when Stanton comes off the IL. With Paul Goldschmidt raking over at first base, there’s essentially nowhere else to go for Rice other than DH. Unless they sustain multiple injuries over at catcher, the Yankees simply have no other spot in the lineup for their rookie slugger to go.

Stanton’s Progress

Before Sunday’s rubber match against the San Francisco Giants, Boone provided reporters with an update on his star hitter. Though there is no defined timetable yet, Boone claimed that Stanton is “getting close” to taking real swings. According to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, the 35-year-old is still taking monitored swings off the Trajekt machine.

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Though the injury sounded much more severe when it was first reported in spring training, it appears that Stanton will still be ready to return to the Bronx sometime during the summer. They will certainly not want to rush him back in case they are in the mix for a playoff spot, because they know what he is capable of doing in October.

Will It Solve Itself?

Problems like these usually have a way of solving themselves, whether it be due to additional injuries or just lucky (or unlucky) circumstances. The Yankees could, however unlikely this move is, try to move Rice to third base. The position has been a question mark for months now, before the season even started, and they cannot go the whole season alternating between Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza. Though both have been serviceable to start the season, New York needs a third baseman who can legitimately hit, and that could be Ben Rice. They moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. to third last season with some success, albeit his positional strengths differ from Rice’s. The bottom line is, though, that the Yankees simply cannot afford to sit Ben Rice, one of their best hitters, for positional reasons.

 

Photo Credit: © Tom Horak-Imagn Images

The post Yankees Must Find a Spot for Ben Rice When Star DH Returns appeared first on Last Word On Baseball.