It appears the Yankees may need to revoke challenge privileges from Ben Rice

New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice has a 1.380 OPS through eight games played this season, bolstering predictions about his Silver Slugger destiny and reiterating some star-studded comparisons. Throw in Rice's underrated defense, and we've got a legitimate stud on our hands in the Bronx.

But Rice isn't perfect. No one is. And when it comes to identifying the 27-year-old slugger's most glaring flaw, we may have located it: ABS challenges.

Rice made two bad challenges in the Miami Marlins series on back-to-back days. And these weren't just normal ABS losses that were close and/or taken during important moments. These were Bad with a capital B challenges from Rice that stood out on a Yankees club that's been among the best in MLB at utilizing the new ABS rules to its benefit.

Aaron Boone needs to enforce who gets Yankees ABS challenge privileges

On Friday, Rice challenged a 1-1 slider from Eury Pérez in the second inning of a game the Yankees were leading 4-1. These are already ominous circumstances in which to challenge, although in Rice's defense, the bases were chucked, and he perhaps thought a victorious at-bat could really put the game out of reach.

Any defense of Rice falls apart when you consider the location of the pitch, however. Pérez's slider was "clearly a strike" in the words of YES Network's David Cone, and any fan watching the broadcast could easily discern the same, well before the ABS verdict came in.

Rice followed up that ugly challenge with another one on Saturday against Miami. The location of this pitch — a low-ish fastball from Andrew Nardi — was more "challenge-able" than Pérez's slider, but it was still a strike, and it also came on a 3-1 count in the fifth inning with two outs and nobody on base. In other words, this wasn't a make-or-break pitch for the at-bat, or for the game. In that situation, you should only be challenging absolutely outrageous calls that have a 100% success chance due to some umpire contact lens issue (or if it's C.B. Bucknor behind the plate with perfect vision).

Given how fascinated and invested in the art of ABS Aaron Boone has already become, you have to assume Boonie was incensed to witness Rice throw away not one, but two precious challenges within 48 hours.

Do Rice's otherwise sparkling baseball offerings make Boone — and the rest of us — feel more forgiving about his ABS struggles? Of course. This leads to an interesting question that will no doubt be on the minds of Boone and other managers around MLB, if it's not already: At what point should a team prohibit a certain player from utilizing ABS (or at least set strict parameters for when they're able to use it)? Is this, in general, a distasteful move that erodes a respectful relationship with that player, regardless of how bad he is at challenging?

Or, would this tactic fall right in line with every other disciplinarian move (like benching someone) that a manager can and will employ in the name of winning?

The latter feels more likely, even if it feels weird to imagine a player being banned by their own manager from ABS challenging. If Boone were to pull the trigger on this sort of thing, he'd have an obvious guinea pig in Rice.