New York Yankees' Ben Rice Lands Two Polar Opposite Comparisons

New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice was one of the team's most pleasant surprise in 2025, smashing 26 home runs while posting an .836 OPS.

Now, heading into his second full season, expectations are high for Rice.

On that note, Joel Sherman of The New York Post has revealed two comparisons for Rice. One will make Yankees fans ecstatic. The other will make them shudder.

The former comparison was Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who smashed 56 homers last season and has over 45 homers in three of the last four campaigns.

Sherman was sure to specify that he wasn't saying Rice would become a 50-home run threat, but that his early trajectory was similar to that of Schwarber during his early days with the Chicago Cubs.

Now, as for the latter comparison ... it was Greg Bird.

Yankees fans will surely remember Bird, the former top prospect who got off to a scintillating start during his debut campaign in 2016 and then flamed out shortly afterward.

Of course, in Bird's case, injuries played a massive role in his demise, and you do have to wonder just how good he could have become had he remained healthy.

Bird came up at the same time as Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, and for a brief moment, there were some who actually felt he was the best of the three prospects.

Obviously, things did not pan out that way for Bird, who is now out of baseball.

Rice is definitely an intriguing young player, perhaps a bit underrated outside of New York. He slashed .255/.337/.499 last season and even showed the ability to be respectable against lefties, managing a .752 OPS against southpaws.

The 27-year-old definitely leaves quite a bit to be desired defensively, but he appears to have the potential to develop into an All-Star bat

Rice was originally selected by the Yankees in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB Draft and went on to register a .935 OPS in the minors, demonstrating his offensive ability right from the get-go before making his big-league debut in 2024.

ZiPs is projecting Rice to slash .241/.330/.462 with 24 long balls and 73 RBI in 2026, but there is no question that the Cohasset, Ma. native has the potential to do quite a bit more this year.

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