Most overlooked development of Yankees spring training involves Ben Rice

While guys like Will Warren and George Lombard Jr. have been the talk of New York Yankees spring training for their encouraging development, Ben Rice also deserves some love in that regard.

Forget about Rice's potent bat (which landed him a Silver Slugger nomination in 2025); how about Rice's slick glove at first base of late?

Rice has looked like a vacuum cleaner at first this spring, making multiple head-turning scoops, including a highly difficult one on Monday off a short throw from Lombard.

Ben Rice is looking like a Gold Glove first baseman this spring with Yankees

Rice is making these plays look easy, convincing Yankees fans that his star power, already demonstrated with a bat in his hands, might extend to nifty glove work in 2026.

Maybe Rice has always been this gifted at first base; it's just that his sample size at the position hasn't been quite large enough for us to notice. Rice played 46 games at first in 2025, but he also spent 48 games as a designated hitter and 29 games at catcher. In general, it's Rice's hitting that everyone talks about (for good reason), but we could be on the verge of Rice's defense officially entering the chat in a big way.

If Rice looks like a better defender than ever these days, it's probably because he's been working at it all offseason long and making any necessary adjustments to his craft. We know that Rice is a player willing and able to fundamentally adjust his hitting approach, and it follows that Rice will be well-suited to yearly improvements on the defensive side of things.

Rice's catching experience makes sense as a partial explanation for his scooping prowess, but no one was expecting Rice to be an elite defensive first baseman during his first full season at the position in 2026. If he keeps flashing leather like this, however, expectations could shift.

The idea is too tempting for Yankees fans not to dream about — a corner infield tandem of Rice (potentially elite) and Ryan McMahon (proven to be elite) making New York's infield defense one of MLB's best in 2026 and beyond.

It's prudent not to get too carried away by Rice's spring highlight reel at first base, but at the same time, fans are realizing that this 12th-round pick out of Dartmouth has done nothing but smash through expectations since he's worn a Yankees uniform.

'Ben Rice, star MLB slugger' was something almost no one saw coming. Perhaps we shouldn't be so surprised if and when 'Ben Rice, Gold Glove first baseman' becomes the next order of business.