Brought up as a catcher, Ben Rice has caught just 7.2 big league innings, and his only in-game opportunities have come in blowout situations. That could change now that Giancarlo Stanton is back.
Aaron Boone reiterated on Monday that he plans on getting Rice occasional starts behind the plate “at some point.” That would give the manager another way to get the 26-year-old’s hard-hitting bat into the lineup, as Rice, who has cooled recently, generally exceeded expectations as the Yankees’ primary designated hitter while Stanton was sidelined by tennis elbows. That role must be filled by Stanton when he’s in the lineup, though, as he no longer plays the field.
“I feel like I’m in as good of a spot as you can be without having had a full nine innings back there in a long time,” Rice, who can also play first, told the Daily News. “I’ve been doing my best to stay in shape with it.”
Tanner Swanson, the Yankees’ director of catching, told The News that being smart about Rice’s workload as a catcher is “the biggest challenge ahead.”
“I do feel like he’s in a better place because of it,” Swanson said of Rice’s limited in-game receiving reps, “to where he could step in and mentally and emotionally feel prepared to manage all the different things that a catcher needs to manage throughout the course of a game. Now the thing that may be difficult to replicate is the volume, being able to go five, six, seven, eight, nine innings.”
Swanson speculated that the Bombers could bring minor league pitchers to Yankee Stadium soon to help Rice build up in a game setting, as the team doesn’t have any rehabbing big leaguers who are ready for live batting practice right now.
But with the Yankees unable to simulate a full game, the coach said he would be “shocked” to see Rice catch consecutive contests. Not that that’s needed, as Austin Wells is entrenched as the starter.
“I don’t know if we have a concrete plan pinned down, but out of the chutes, I would envision it being once, maybe twice [a week] and never back-to-back,” Swanson said. “We’ll definitely be mindful of how he’s recovering.”
Rice also expected an incremental buildup, with another possibility being that he could stop catching a few innings early on the days he starts.
“I would imagine it would be some sort of an on-ramp like that, similar to spring training,” he said. “You just gradually build up the innings or build up the frequency of when you’re catching. I don’t know what that’s going to look like. We haven’t talked about when or who and all that for when I’m going to catch, but I would imagine I’m not going to be doing back-to-backs right away.”
Rice has been keeping his catching skills sharp with daily work behind the scenes.
That includes catching bullpens and live batting practice sessions and machine work. He’s also been throwing to bases with velocity every few days and has made fresh legs a focus of his recovery routine.
Rice has been a frequent presence in scouting report meetings with Yankees pitchers as well. He does his own homework on opposing lineups, and he regularly talks game-planning with Swanson, Wells, backup catcher J.C. Escarra, and pitching coaches Matt Blake and Preston Claiborne.
He also pretends to call pitches when DH’ing or playing first.
“He’s super involved in the advance process,” Swanson said. “His current role isn’t asking him to go out and catch, but he’s being very diligent to do his homework on hitters. He’s very invested in understanding our pitchers and their strengths and how they want to attack hitters. So he’s doing his due diligence to build and gain trust from pitchers.
“It’s not a new thing for him to be around.”
The Yankees’ openness to Rice starting at catcher comes not only with Stanton back, but with the trade deadline a month and a half away.
Rice won’t be the only one impacted by Stanton’s return. There’s Escarra and Paul Goldschmidt at first. Keep in mind that the Yankees also have four starting-caliber outfielders for three spots, and that the entire puzzle involves four MVPs.
“We’ll have to work a little bit of a rotation there. [Stanton] will be part of that. So I expect him to play regularly, but he’ll have his days too, and we’ll just kind of let this thing shake out,” Boone said. “I’ve talked to the guys about it. We’re gonna have a couple good players sitting over there every single day that you can make the case should be in the lineup. We’re all on the same page with it and ready to roll.
“There’s going to be days when maybe a guy deserves to be in there and isn’t. Everyone’s not going to be happy about it all the time, and that’s OK, as long as we’re all in it together as a team.”
Escarra’s situation is particularly interesting, as the feel-good story could become expendable if Rice shows that he’s capable of catching at a high level a few times per week. Escarra has minor league options, but he could also fetch a decent return ahead of the deadline, as he plays what is considered a weak position across the league, has shown he can hit with inconsistent at-bats, and is baseball’s top framer, according to strike rate.
“It’s fair speculation,” Swanson acknowledged. “I don’t really have a lot of clarity on how it all shakes out. Ultimately, I think it’s a good problem that means we’ve got an abundance of good players.”
Moving Escarra off the active roster — in some way, shape or form — would allow the Yankees to use his spot on other needs, such as a right-handed bat and/or infield help. However, Swanson made the case that continuing to carry three catchers could be beneficial, even if Rice proves he can start.
“Having that third catcher allows you to deploy Ben in a lot of different ways where you’re not using your backup catcher or shooting him off the bench and then maybe taking him out of the game and not having anybody in case of an emergency,” Swanson said. “It’s an uncomfortable feeling for a manager to be down to one catcher, and so I think it definitely gives us some freedom.
“But I’m not the general manager. If all things are equal, having that third catcher does provide a lot of value, especially with a guy like Ben, who we’re going to ask to do a lot of different things. It gives us flexibility to be able to use him in a lot of different ways.”
Boone, meanwhile, gave Escarra a vote of confidence as he discussed his plans for Rice.
“I do plan on getting [Rice] back there at some point,” the skipper said. “I don’t know how frequent it would be because I really value what J.C. has done back there.”
