Yankees' Ben Rice starts vs. lefthander in Game 3 of Wild Card Series

Ben Rice arrived in spring training as a man without a position. A roster spot leaving camp was far from guaranteed.

About eight months later, the first baseman/catcher/DH was in the starting lineup on Thursday night for the Yankees’ biggest game of the season, the deciding Game 3 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

The lefthanded-hitting Rice was batting fifth and playing first base against a lefthanded starting pitcher (Boston rookie Connelly Early), a rarity this season.

But Rice, who has been consistently barreling baseballs since the start of Grapefruit League play in February and earned the starting DH job in spring training because of Giancarlo Stanton’s elbow issues, left the Yankees no choice Thursday.

After Paul Goldschmidt, who hit .336 against lefties this season, started Game 1 against Red Sox ace lefthander Garrett Crochet, Rice started Game 2. His two-run homer off righty Brayan Bello in the first inning got the Yankees off and running in an eventual 4-3 victory.

Rice, who hit .255 with 26 homers and an .836 OPS this season, nearly drove in additional runs in the third against lefthander Justin Wilson, hitting a 109-mph lineout to right with two runners on.

“Didn’t hurt,” Aaron Boone said before Game 3 of the decision to go with Rice. “I just think Benny’s presence and the threat to put one in the seats, I thought it was the right thing.”

“He hits the ball hard every single time he gets up there,” Aaron Judge said after Game 2. “He has great at-bats and knows what he’s looking for. When he gets his pitch, he doesn’t miss.”

Boone said it was a “tough decision” to sit Goldschmidt, a four-time Gold Glove winner, in favor of Rice, who was drafted as a catcher and has been more or less learning to play first base on the fly during the last two seasons.

Rival scouts assigned to the Yankees have said Rice, not seen as a strong defender at catcher or at first, has gradually gotten better at both positions. Those evaluators took note of his improvement at the corner spot.

“You can see he’s a guy who’s been putting the work in there,” one AL scout said. “He’s still not great over there, but he’s to the point where he’s probably not going to kill them, either. But it’s still worth the risk because of the bat.”

Goldschmidt, a defensive replacement in the later innings of many of the games Rice has started this season, has served as a mentor for the younger player. He could be seen on the field occasionally chatting with Rice while both were taking balls before Game 3.

“I had a great conversation with Goldy about it,” Boone said. “I mean, he’s unbelievable. He’s like, ‘I get it. I’ll be ready to go for whatever.’ He’s as good as it gets, he really is. Just appreciative having a person, with his career, who he is, his humility and, really, the ultimate teammate, has kind of come shining through again.”

Rice finished the season particularly strong, hitting .316 with four homers, seven doubles and a .932 OPS in the team’s final 22 games (the Yankees went 15-7), so it was a bit of a surprise when he didn’t start Game 1.

What happened in Game 2, when Rice became the seventh Yankee to hit a home run in his first career postseason plate appearance — and the first since Shane Spencer in Game 2 of the 1998 ALCS against Texas — made the choice to go with him in Game 3 a no-brainer.

Said Boone: “I just think, the way Benny is going right now, the impact he is having, the ability to change a game, the presence in the box right now really over the last few weeks and not knowing how [Boston is] going to deploy everything, having that true balance in the lineup [made it] a difficult call, but one that I felt like was the right thing to do.”

Rice, a 12th-round pick of the Yankees in 2021 who grew up a Yankees fan in the heart of Red Sox country (Cohasset, Massachusetts) is living out a childhood dream.

“Unbelievable. So cool,” he said. “To be a part of the rivalry now, just given where I am from and where I grew up and all that, just makes it all that more special.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.