Introduced up as a catcher, Ben Rice has caught simply 7.2 massive league innings, and his solely in-game alternatives have are available blowout conditions. That would change now that Giancarlo Stanton is again.
Aaron Boone reiterated on Monday that he plans on getting Rice occasional begins behind the plate “at some point.” That will give the supervisor one other option to get the 26-year-old’s hard-hitting bat into the lineup, as Rice, who has cooled just lately, usually exceeded expectations because the Yankees’ main designated hitter whereas Stanton was sidelined by tennis elbows. That position have to be crammed by Stanton when he’s within the lineup, although, as he now not performs the sphere.
“I do feel like he’s in a better place because of it,” Swanson stated of Rice’s restricted 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 might carry minor league pitchers to Yankee Stadium quickly to assist Rice construct up in a recreation setting, because the workforce doesn’t have any rehabbing massive leaguers who’re prepared for dwell batting follow proper now.
However with the Yankees unable to simulate a full recreation, the coach stated he can be “shocked” to see Rice catch consecutive contests. Not that that’s wanted, as Austin Wells is entrenched because 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 stated. “We’ll definitely be mindful of how he’s recovering.”
Rice additionally anticipated an incremental buildup, with one other chance being that he might cease catching a couple of innings early on the times he begins.
“I would imagine it would be some sort of an on-ramp like that, similar to spring training,” he stated. “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 preserving his catching expertise sharp with every day work behind the scenes.
That features catching bullpens and dwell batting follow periods and machine work. He’s additionally been throwing to bases with velocity each few days and has made recent legs a spotlight of his restoration routine.
Rice has been a frequent presence in scouting report conferences with Yankees pitchers as effectively. He does his personal homework on opposing lineups, and he often talks game-planning with Swanson, Wells, backup catcher J.C. Escarra, and pitching coaches Matt Blake and Preston Claiborne.
He additionally pretends to name pitches when DH’ing or enjoying first.
“He’s super involved in the advance process,” Swanson stated. “His present position isn’t asking him to exit and catch, however he’s being very diligent to do his homework on hitters. He’s very invested in understanding our pitchers and their strengths and the way they wish to assault hitters. So he’s doing his due diligence to construct and acquire belief from pitchers.
“It’s not a new thing for him to be around.”
The Yankees’ openness to Rice beginning at catcher comes not solely with Stanton again, however with the commerce deadline a month and a half away.
Rice gained’t be the one one impacted by Stanton’s return. There’s Escarra and Paul Goldschmidt at first. Remember that the Yankees even have 4 starting-caliber outfielders for 3 spots, and that your complete puzzle entails 4 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 stated. “I’ve talked to the blokes about it. We’re gonna have a pair good gamers sitting over there each single day that you could make the case ought to be within the lineup. We’re all on the identical web page with it and able 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 scenario is especially attention-grabbing, because the feel-good story might grow to be expendable if Rice reveals that he’s able to catching at a excessive stage a couple of occasions per week. Escarra has minor league choices, however he might additionally fetch a good return forward of the deadline, as he performs what is taken into account a weak place throughout the league, has proven he can hit with inconsistent at-bats, and is baseball’s prime framer, in keeping with strike price.
“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.”
Transferring Escarra off the energetic roster — in a roundabout way, form or kind — would permit the Yankees to make use of his spot on different wants, resembling a right-handed bat and/or infield assist. Nevertheless, Swanson made the case that persevering with to hold three catchers may very well be useful, even when Rice proves he can begin.
“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 stated. “It’s an uncomfortable feeling for a supervisor to be down to 1 catcher, and so I feel it undoubtedly provides 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, in the meantime, gave Escarra a vote of confidence as he mentioned his plans for Rice.
“I do plan on getting [Rice] back there at some point,” the skipper stated. “I don’t know how frequent it would be because I really value what J.C. has done back there.”
