Ben Rice’s bat finally woke up at just the right time.
After a stretch without a home run, the Yankees first baseman snapped the drought Saturday with a massive shot to dead center field. That blast came on the heels of a two-out, game-tying homer Friday night against Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, giving Rice a little burst of life as the second half gets rolling.
That matters because the Silver Slugger race at first base in the American League is shaping up to be a tight one, and Rice appears to be right in the middle of it. With under two months left in the season, the end-of-year award battle could end up looking a lot like the All-Star mess he was briefly caught up in.
Rice was originally left out of the All-Star Game starting lineup by Canada, but he still wound up starting in Philadelphia after a wave of injuries and withdrawals opened the door. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dropped out to nurse an “injury” - his fading ego - and Nick Kurtz was sidelined by a right thumb injury that kept him out of the showcase at his childhood stadium. Rice and Red Sox first baseman Willson Contreras ended up filling in, and Rice delivered with an RBI single off Cristopher Sánchez.
Now the bigger question is whether Rice can turn that momentum into a real push for Silver Slugger honors.
The competition is fierce. Guerrero Jr., the incumbent standard at the position, still hasn’t hit a home run at home this season.
He won the fan vote for the Midsummer Classic, but that doesn’t translate to this race. Kurtz, meanwhile, is back on the Injured List and sits at 21 homers with a .396 OBP and a 142 OPS+.
His time is coming, just not this year.
Contreras is the real problem for Rice.
The Red Sox first baseman has been driving his club’s absurd surge and has put together a strong case of his own with 23 homers, a .285 average and a 161 OPS+. He’s outpaced Rice in OPS, even though Rice has the edge in home runs with 32 and sits at 147 OPS+.
Contreras hasn’t looked quite the same over the past week after being horrifically beaned in Los Angeles, and he also took a few days off because of a mysterious sickness. Then came the odd Fenway Park moment, when he was booed for lack of hustle while the Red Sox were already down four runs in the eighth.
Rice still has a path, but it’s a narrow one. He could use Aaron Judge back in the lineup, and he needs his own hot streak to keep building after the homer Saturday. He also still qualifies at first base even with some recent DH work, which keeps him in the mix.
Winning a Silver Slugger at a position like this is never simple. Ryan Howard had to go through Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman year after year and only won once, in his 2006 MVP season. Rice may be staring at his best and only real chance, and right now the race looks like it might come down to him and Contreras.
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What stood out most was the ease of it all, especially the longstanding friendship between Samantha Judge and Natalie McMahon. Their connection predates their overlap with the Yankees, which gives the scene a little more weight than a routine team get-together. For a club that spends most of its life under a bright spotlight, those quieter off-field bonds can still say plenty about how a roster is fitting together. [Read more 🡒]