Ben Rice could be even more valuable to the Yankees if Aaron Boone comes to his senses

Ben Rice’s offensive production through mid-June has the New York Yankees’ young star in the middle of the AL MVP conversation. There’s still another way Rice can provide the Yankees with even more value. All the franchise needs is for manager Aaron Boone to get a little more aggressive with how his sweet-swinging lefty is deployed on a nightly basis.

Rice progressed through New York’s minor league system as a catcher before moving to first base once he solidified his place in the majors. Interestingly, the catcher position is the Achilles’ heel of Boone’s lineup at the moment.

Catcher has been a Yankees problem that Ben Rice can solve

Austin Wells has been a massive disappointment at the plate and currently sits on the Injured List due to cervical headaches. He should be back in the mix for the Yankees soon, but there’s no guarantee he’ll regain the offensive proficiency that made him such a valuable commodity for Boone’s club in recent seasons.

At the moment, the Yankees are going with the platoon of J.C. Escarra and Ali Sanchez to keep things going behind the plate. Escarra is a decent defender, but he’s a profound negative on offense. That’s unlikely to change during his age-31 season. Sanchez was only called up to soak up innings after Wells’ trip to the Injured List, and he’s yet to record a hit in pinstripes.

The offensive struggles of the team’s catching corps are only going to come under more scrutiny as Aaron Judge’s injury absence extends deeper into the summer. Boone has to find a way to get more out of that spot in the order if the Yankees are going to stay atop the division. That’s why giving Rice some reps behind the plate makes too much sense not to happen.

Then again, Boone appears to be opposed to the idea at the moment. He claims that Rice’s lack of Spring Training action at catcher is a big reason why he hasn’t thrown him into the mix behind the plate this year. The veteran manager also believes playing Rice at catcher would wear down his potential offensive value. Both are fair concerns for a team with legitimate postseason aspirations.

Giving Ben Rice more reps at catcher is worth the risk for the Yankees

It’s still a risk the Yankees need to take. They don’t need to overload Rice by forcing him to play catcher every day, but he should start to get some work to help boost the team’s weakest position. Even deploying him at catcher once a week might be enough to give the team’s offense a much-needed boost.

The Yankees do possess a high-quality backup at the first base position in the form of Paul Goldschmidt. That’s an added benefit from moving Rice to catcher upon occasion. Goldschmidt’s age should prevent him from playing every day, but he should be able to handle a modest uptick in playing time.

Expect Boone to delay the possibility of moving Rice behind the plate for as long as possible. He does not want to mess up the good thing he has with Rice’s bat in the middle of his order.

Any prolonged offensive slump could change Boone’s calculations quickly. Moving Rice to catcher is the simplest, most direct way to get more quality hitters into the Yankee lineup. Look for Rice to start working his way into the catcher rotation in the coming weeks when Judge’s absence really starts to weigh the team down.

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