Ben Rice: Inside the Yankees Star’s Journey From Dartmouth to the Major Leagues

Ben Rice did not arrive in Major League Baseball carrying the expectations normally attached to a first-round draft pick. His path was quieter and considerably less predictable. He played Ivy League baseball, lost valuable college playing time during the pandemic, competed in amateur and summer leagues, and eventually heard his name called in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB draft.

A few years later, Benjamin Kimball Rice had become an important part of the New York Yankees.

Born on February 22, 1999, Rice grew up in Massachusetts and became a Yankees fan in an area where supporting the Boston Red Sox was far more common. That childhood loyalty makes his eventual career especially interesting. The kid who admired Derek Jeter ultimately found himself wearing the same famous uniform.

Rice made his MLB debut in 2024, experienced an immediate taste of history followed by a difficult slump, then returned stronger. By 2026, he had reached another major career milestone with his first MLB All-Star selection.

Who Is Ben Rice?

Ben Rice is an American professional baseball player for the New York Yankees.

His versatility has become one of the useful parts of his game. Rice can play first base, serve as a designated hitter and catch, giving the Yankees different ways to fit his left-handed bat into the lineup.

Before reaching the majors, Rice played college baseball at Dartmouth College.

The Yankees selected him with the 363rd overall pick in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB draft. That draft position meant there was nothing guaranteed about his professional future.

Rice had to work through several levels of the Yankees’ minor league system before reaching New York.

His development was not perfectly smooth either. His first professional numbers were modest, and even after reaching the majors he experienced the kind of slump that can quickly test a young player’s confidence.

What followed made his rise more impressive.

Ben Rice Grew Up in Massachusetts

Rice grew up in Cohasset, Massachusetts, a place where baseball loyalties could have easily pushed him toward the Red Sox.

He went the other way.

Rice grew up supporting the Yankees despite having friends who followed Boston. His favorite player was Derek Jeter, the longtime Yankees captain who became one of the defining players of his generation.

Baseball was not Rice’s only sport during childhood.

He began playing hockey when he was young before baseball eventually became his primary athletic direction.

That multi-sport background continued into school.

Rice attended Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts. As a freshman, he played varsity hockey while also appearing on the junior varsity baseball team.

His baseball roles included second base and catcher, an early sign of the positional flexibility that would remain part of his career years later.

Dartmouth Gave Rice His College Baseball Opportunity

After high school, Rice enrolled at Dartmouth College and joined the Big Green baseball program.

His freshman season in 2019 gave him 72 at-bats.

Normally, the next couple of years would have provided the steady game experience needed for a college player trying to attract professional attention.

Instead, Rice’s college career was disrupted by circumstances outside his control.

He appeared in only seven games during his sophomore season in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the remainder of the season to be canceled.

The Ivy League shutdown created an even bigger problem for players hoping to continue developing.

Rice needed baseball opportunities wherever he could find them.

He helped organize scrimmages involving Ivy League players and also played summer baseball for the Worcester Bravehearts.

That experience became particularly important.

His Summer Baseball Performance Changed His Path

Rice performed exceptionally well with Worcester.

He hit .350 and produced 11 home runs in 123 at-bats, eventually earning the league’s Most Valuable Player honor.

It was the kind of performance Rice needed at a time when his normal college schedule had disappeared.

With the Ivy League still not playing in 2021, Rice continued finding other places to compete.

He played for the Braintree White Sox in the Cranberry Baseball League and also spent time with the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Rather than allowing the disrupted college schedule to stall his development, Rice accumulated experience through different competitive environments.

He eventually graduated from Dartmouth in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.

By then, his professional baseball journey had already begun.

The Yankees Drafted Ben Rice in the 12th Round

The Yankees selected Rice in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB draft.

He was the 363rd overall selection.

Players drafted in that range usually have a very different path from highly celebrated early-round prospects. They have to prove themselves repeatedly while moving through a minor league system filled with other players fighting for the same opportunities.

Rice began with the rookie-level Florida Complex League Yankees and Single-A Tampa Tarpons.

His first professional results were hardly spectacular.

Across 23 games, he hit .197.

It would have been easy to look at those numbers and wonder how quickly he could move through the organization.

The answer started becoming clearer the following season.

Rice Began Climbing Through the Yankees System

Rice returned to Tampa in 2022 and showed significant progress.

Across 68 games, he produced a .267/.368/.442 slash line with nine home runs and 36 RBIs.

Then came the season that really changed his standing within the Yankees organization.

Rice began 2023 with Tampa before earning promotions to the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades and Double-A Somerset Patriots.

He performed across all three levels.

In 73 games, Rice hit .324 with a .434 on-base percentage and .615 slugging percentage. He added 20 home runs, 68 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.

Those numbers were difficult to ignore.

A player who had entered professional baseball as a 12th-round selection was moving closer to the majors at impressive speed.

Ben Rice Reached Triple-A in 2024

Rice opened the 2024 season with Somerset.

His progress continued quickly enough that the Yankees promoted him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on June 5.

He did not need much time there to make another impression.

In 109 at-bats for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Rice produced a .294 batting average, .428 on-base percentage and .661 slugging percentage.

Less than two weeks after his Triple-A promotion, the Yankees made the call every minor league player waits for.

Rice was heading to the Bronx.

Ben Rice Made His Yankees Debut in 2024

The Yankees promoted Rice to the major leagues on June 18, 2024.

He made his MLB debut that same day against the Baltimore Orioles.

Rice did not have to wait long for his first major league hit.

In the third inning, he singled to right field.

Simply reaching the majors was already a major achievement for a former 12th-round pick whose college career had been heavily interrupted.

A few weeks later, Rice did something no Yankees rookie had ever done.

His Three-Home Run Game Made Yankees History

On July 6, 2024, the Yankees faced the Boston Red Sox.

For Rice, it was a particularly fitting opponent considering he had grown up as a Yankees supporter in Massachusetts.

He delivered one of the biggest performances of his young career.

Rice hit three home runs in the game, becoming the first rookie in Yankees history to accomplish the feat.

He also drove in seven runs.

That RBI total matched a Yankees rookie record associated with Lou Gehrig.

For a young player only weeks removed from Triple-A, it was an extraordinary afternoon.

Suddenly Rice had created a piece of Yankees history.

But baseball has a way of changing quickly.

The rest of his rookie season would become much more difficult.

His Rookie Season Also Included a Major Setback

After his early success, Rice fell into an extended slump.

The Yankees eventually sent him back to Triple-A in late August.

He finished his first MLB season batting .171 with a .613 OPS, seven home runs and 23 RBIs across 50 games.

Those numbers told a very different story from his historic game against Boston.

But his rookie struggles did not end his opportunity.

Instead, Rice used the following offseason to prepare for another chance.

He added approximately 10 pounds of muscle and entered 2025 spring training trying to prove that his first major league experience did not represent his ceiling.

Ben Rice Broke Out in 2025

A strong spring helped Rice earn a spot on the Yankees’ 2025 Opening Day roster.

This time, he stayed productive over a much longer period.

Rice contributed as a designated hitter, first baseman and catcher while becoming a more dangerous offensive player.

On May 11, he hit the first grand slam of his major league career against the Athletics.

By the end of the regular season, his improvement was obvious.

Rice finished with a .255 batting average and an .836 OPS. He hit 26 home runs and collected 65 RBIs across 530 plate appearances.

Compared with his difficult rookie numbers, it represented a huge step forward.

Rice then added another memorable moment in October.

In his first postseason at-bat during the American League Wild Card Series against Boston, he hit a home run.

Once again, a major moment in his Yankees career came against the Red Sox.

Rice Became an MLB All-Star in 2026

Rice continued building on his breakout performance in 2026.

One particularly strong stretch earned him American League Player of the Week honors for the week running from May 25 through May 31.

He went 12-for-26 during that stretch, good for a .462 batting average.

The bigger recognition came later.

Rice was selected to the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, the first All-Star selection of his career.

He also participated in the 2026 Home Run Derby.

It was a remarkable progression.

Only two years earlier, Rice had been a rookie trying to establish himself in the major leagues. After struggling badly enough to return to Triple-A, he rebuilt his game and developed into an All-Star.

For a 12th-round draft pick, the climb was especially notable.

Baseball Runs in Ben Rice’s Family

Rice is not the first person in his family to play baseball at a high level.

His father, Dan Rice, played college baseball as a pitcher at Brown University.

That family background gave Ben an early connection to the sport, although his own journey eventually took him much further.

There is another interesting detail about Rice that has become useful during his professional career.

He speaks fluent Spanish.

Rice began learning the language in middle school and continued studying it during college.

When he reached professional baseball, those years of learning became particularly valuable.

Why Teammates Call Him Ben Arroz

Rice continued practicing Spanish in the minor leagues, where clubhouses often include players from across Latin America.

His ability to communicate in Spanish became especially helpful when working with Spanish-speaking pitchers.

Teammates also gave him a fitting nickname.

They sometimes call him “Ben Arroz.”

Arroz is the Spanish word for rice.

It is a lighthearted nickname, but Rice’s language skills have a practical purpose too. Catchers need to communicate clearly with pitchers, and speaking Spanish can remove an important barrier with teammates.

That skill adds another layer to a player already valued for his ability to fill several roles on the field.

Ben Rice’s Rise Was Far From Conventional

Ben Rice’s road to the Yankees did not follow the traditional path of an elite baseball prospect.

He was not a first-round draft selection.

His Dartmouth career was interrupted by the pandemic.

He had to find competitive games in summer and amateur leagues while Ivy League baseball was shut down.

His first professional season produced a batting average below .200.

Even after reaching the Yankees, his promising start gave way to a slump and a return to Triple-A.

Yet each setback was followed by progress.

Rice improved throughout the minors, reached the majors in 2024, transformed his offensive production in 2025 and earned his first All-Star selection in 2026.

The story has another fitting detail.

Rice grew up in Massachusetts surrounded by plenty of Red Sox supporters but chose the Yankees as his team. Derek Jeter was the player he admired.

Years later, Rice did not simply reach Major League Baseball. He reached it wearing Yankees pinstripes.

His career is still developing, but the journey from Dartmouth and the 363rd pick of the draft to an MLB All-Star has already made Ben Rice one of the more unusual success stories to emerge from the Yankees system in recent years.