Ben Rice's Struggles Could Be More Serious Than Yankees Fans Think

The New York Yankees' offense has been stuck in a quagmire with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger all sidelined, and that should not come as much of a surprise.

When you lose three of your best hitters, that tends to happen.

But that doesn't necessarily excuse the sharp decline of Ben Rice, who has been absolutely horrendous for the better part of two months now.

Over his last 60 games, Rice is hitting .211 with a .747 OPS. Over his last 26 contests, he is slashing .188/.291/.375 with four home runs and 10 RBI.

Yes, on the season as a whole, Rice's numbers look good, as he has smashed 32 homers to go along with an .891 OPS. But let's keep in mind that a good portion of that production came when he actually had protection in the lineup.

Since the Yankees acquired Luis Garcia Jr. at the MLB trade deadline, Rice has mostly been relegated to the role of designated hitter. This has raised some hairs among New York fans who think that the 27-year-old deserves to be playing in the field.

Well, Rice has been one of the worst defensive first basemen in all of baseball this season, and he has never been known for his chops in the field.

I'd be more focused on Rice's struggles at the plate, and while we can simply chalk it up to a midseason swoon, there could be deeper issues at play here.

Yankees fans seem convinced that Rice is the second-best hitter in the lineup (behind Judge, obviously) when everyone is healthy ... this even though Stanton has a far more established track record and is one of the best postseason sluggers ever.

As I stated previously, the Bronx faithful does have a tendency to overrate some of their own players, and while Rice is certainly an impressive hitter, he may fall under that category right now.

A truly elite offensive force doesn't completely disappear with limited protection. Will it be more difficult for him to produce? Sure, but he shouldn't completely fall off the face of the earth like Rice has the last two months.

It's also entirely possible that Rice's torrid start was a bit of a fluke and that his current slash line (which looks awfully similar to last year's, by the way) is more in line with what we can actually expect. Perhaps things are just evening out.

And that means Rice is still a really, really good hitter; just not quite as dominant as Yankees fans may have thought earlier in the campaign.

Make no mistake: if New York wants to make a World Series push this season, a returning Judge is not the only antidote. The Yanks also need both Stanton and Bellinger (and particularly Stanton) back in the fold, because it's becoming abundantly clear that Rice is not a 1A or 1B type of player. At least not yet.