Since spring training, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone had confidence in young catcher turned first baseman Ben Rice's ability to hit the ball. That confidence was shown when he chose Rice to bat leadoff in Thursday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

When asked to explain his decision, Boone offered a simple one-word answer per SNY.tv.

“Rakes,” he said.

The Yankees added Rice as part of a young group of players that made the roster just before Opening Day. A major reason was his strong performance in spring training in which he hit five home runs.

He is currently batting .385, has five hits, two home runs, and two RBIs.

Rice is coming a season in which he only batted .171, had 26 hits, seven home runs, and 23 RBIs while playing 50 games. Despite some struggles hitting for average, Rice has shown the Yankees that he is a unique versatile talent, going from playing catcher to first base.

There is talk that Rice could become a replacement for Anthony Rizzo at first base if needed.

In essence, the decision to bat him leadoff was meant to be all along.

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Ben Rice's past performances as leadoff for the Yankees

On June 18, 2024, Rice made his major league debut with the Yankees at first base. He came in to fill in for Rizzo who was out with a broken arm.

On July 4, he batted leadoff 15 games into his career to replace shortstop Anthony Volpe who was struggling at the time.

Rice went 1-for-5 in his leadoff debut against the Boston Red Sox.

Two days later, Rice made Yankee history while batting leadoff. In that game, he became the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game. One of them was a leadoff home run to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees went onto win 14-4.

Since then, Rice has won the trust of Boone to step up to the plate and contribute.