New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice had the largest sport of his nascent big-league profession on Saturday, homering 3 times and driving in seven runs as a part of a 14-4 win towards the Boston Pink Sox (field rating) and coming into his title into the file books within the course of. In whole, Rice went 3-for-5 on the afternoon.
Rice, stationed atop the Yankees lineup for the third consecutive sport, turned the second rookie in franchise historical past to ever launch a leadoff residence run towards the Pink Sox. Beforehand, that feat had been completed solely by the well-named Rooster Hawks, in accordance with YES Community studio researcher Maxwell Kravatz. (Lest anybody assume the baseball gods lack a humorousness, we’ll observe that Rooster and Rice are actually without end linked collectively.)
What’s extra is that, per MLB’s Sarah Langs, Rice turned the third rookie to homer thrice from the leadoff spot. the others? Andrew McCutchen (2009) and Mike Yastrzemski (2019)
This is a take a look at every of Rice’s three residence runs on Saturday:
Rice’s first residence run had a 105.1 mph exit velocity and carried 390 ft; his second had marks of 103.7 mph and 406 ft; and his third checked in at 110.8 mph and 406 ft. For these not keen on doing math, which means Rice delivered greater than 1,202 ft in residence runs on Saturday alone.
Rice, 25, entered Saturday having hit .261/.364/.391 (115 OPS+) with one residence run and three doubles over the course of his first 16 video games. He had additionally walked as many occasions as he had struck out (eight) in 55 plate appearances. Rice was promoted to the majors after veteran first baseman Anthony Rizzo fractured his forearm, requiring a stint on the injured checklist.
The Yankees initially drafted Rice within the twelfth spherical of the 2021 class by the use of Dartmouth Faculty.
The Yankees’ victory improved their file to 55-36 on the 12 months. It additionally marks their first victory of the brand new month, having beforehand dropped their first 4 video games of July. The Yankees and Pink Sox will now wrap up their weekend set on Sunday evening.
