After the Yankees dropped Game 2 of the Subway Series to the Mets at Citi Field, manager Aaron Boone still centered the conversation on Ben Rice. Boone said Rice is “turning into one of the best hitters in the league,” pointing to his standout season—14 homers
The Yankees didn’t get the kind of start they wanted at Citi Field on Saturday. New York fell 6-3 to the New York Mets in Game 2 of the Subway Series, a frustrating night that dropped the Yankees to 28-18 on the season.
But when manager Aaron Boone was asked before the game about Ben Rice, the conversation moved in a different direction—toward the swing that keeps turning into something bigger.
“I think he’s turning into one of the best hitters in the league,” Boone said.
It’s a bold claim, and Boone knows the difference between a hot stretch and a real change. His point wasn’t only that Rice is producing. It was that Rice is pushing past what the Yankees might have expected when he first came through their system. with a ceiling that looks higher than a typical breakout.
Rice is, by Boone’s reading, no longer just validating the scouting report. He’s stretching it.
The numbers match the confidence. Entering Saturday, Rice had 14 home runs and 30 RBIs while hitting .314. His on-base percentage was .418, his slugging percentage was .686, and his OPS sat at 1.104 — a mark that led all of baseball.
That production doesn’t just land as “good.” Boone’s case is about star-level output, and the Yankees have watched it take shape alongside their other biggest threat.
Through the Yankees’ first 45 games, Rice and Aaron Judge became only the second pair of teammates in franchise history to each reach at least 14 home runs that quickly.
There was also a specific concern that Rice has now answered. Last season, left-handed pitching could still create problems for him. This year, that weakness hasn’t shown up in the way it once did. Rice’s OPS against lefties entered Saturday at 1.092, nearly matching the damage he has done against right-handed pitching.
When Juan Soto left the Yankees for the Mets, the question wasn’t whether New York could find a like-for-like replacement. It was whether the Yankees could keep building a lineup around Judge that still made them one of the American League’s most dangerous teams.
Rice has helped with that in a way even fewer expected.
Soto wore No. 22 in the Bronx before moving across town. Rice now wears No. 22, and while the Yankees would never frame it as a direct handoff, the timing has an unmistakable feel—Rice providing the left-handed thunder New York needed after Soto’s exit.
Saturday ended with a 6-3 loss, and the scoreboard still hurts. But the bigger story Boone sees hasn’t changed.
Rice has spent the first six weeks of the season turning a promising bat into one of the most dangerous offensive profiles in baseball. He is hitting lefties and righties. He is driving for power while controlling the zone. And he is giving Judge the lineup partner the Yankees badly needed after Soto left.
That’s what Boone sees—right now, in the middle of a season that can’t afford distractions.
Aaron Boone Ben Rice New York Yankees New York Mets Subway Series Citi Field Aaron Judge Juan Soto MLB
14 homers is crazy already.
I didn’t even know Ben Rice was on the Yankees til this article. Boone always talks like he knows everything though. .418 OBP sounds made up but whatever, maybe he’s cooking.
Wait so Yankees lost 6-3 but Boone’s bragging about someone’s swing? That’s backwards. Mets got to him and Boone still going “best in the league” like ok bro lol.
Ben Rice turning into one of the best hitters??? Sounds like the Yankees are just making up excuses for the start they didn’t want at Citi Field. OPS 1.104… I guess that’s good? Mets pitching is overrated then if he’s that high. Also Subway Series is such a weird name, I always forget it’s not like… a real subway fight or something.