Lefty? Righty? Ben Rice does not care.
The Yankees said over the offseason that they wanted to give Rice more exposure to lefties this year, and he took full advantage of his first start in such situation on Sunday.
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The 27-year-old was right back in the lineup against tough Royals southpaw Noah Cameron, and he had no issue crushing a solo shot as part of a five-run bottom of the third.
Rice lifted a 3-1 fastball up in the zone 398 feet to the second-deck in right, giving him homers in three straight games and a total of seven on the season.
He grounded out in his only other at-bat against Cameron, but is now hitting an impressive .313 with a pair of homers and a 1.041 OPS against lefties on the season.
“He’s made a lot of progress,” Aaron Boone said. “He handled his own against [lefties] last year and then some, so Benny’s just continuing to solidify himself as one of the outstanding hitters in the league no matter what hand you throw with.”
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The numbers certainly show that to be true.
Even with the homer being his lone knock in the win, Rice is hitting .339 through 42 at-bats.
He’s racked up 13 XBH’s, has driven in 17 runs, is getting on-base at a .468 clip, and is slugging .774 which adds up to a 1.224 OPS — all of which are among the league’s best.
Rice’s early-season prowess has him drawing praise from his teammates.
“Ever since I saw him last spring he’s been hitting the ball hard,” Cody Bellinger said. “He’s got a really good idea of what he wants to do up there — just a really good plan, really good approach, it’s fun to watch.”
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“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone be so consistent impacting the ball the way he’s been doing so far this year,” Amed Rosario added via a translator. “It feels great to see that from him, just really great work.”
Boone plans on having Rice and Paul Goldschmidt in the lineup against lefty Cole Ragans as the Yanks look for the series sweep in Sunday’s finale.
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