Ben Rice was a late-round pick. His bat was not a secret forever.

Ben Rice’s 39th home run of the season, on September 18, put him one swing from 40. On draft day, the Yankees had considerably less to go on. His college résumé had a large hole in it.

Rice was the 363rd overall selection in 2021, a 12th-round pick from Dartmouth. That is a long wait to hear your name. It is also a useful place to begin his story, provided we do not mistake the draft order for a permanent judgment on his bat.

Dartmouth’s account explains how little recent college baseball teams had to work with. Rice played his freshman season and seven games in 2020. The pandemic then kept him from playing another inning for the school before the draft. A conventional junior-season showcase was not available to him.

What evaluators actually saw

By 2024, there was much more to see. Rice had hit .324/.434/.615 across three minor-league levels in 2023, finishing at Double-A. FanGraphs placed him 29th on its Yankees prospect list with a 35+ Future Value grade. Read beyond the ranking, though, and the report was more interested in the bat than that number might suggest.

It praised his left-handed bat speed and strength while questioning whether he could remain a catcher. The possible major-league role would depend on his hitting. A prospect who might have to change positions faces a different calculation from one whose defense already supplies much of his value.

Rice has exceeded that modest overall projection. Saying nobody saw anything in him would go further than the record allows. The offensive promise was there in the report, and one evaluator’s ranking was never a vote of the entire sport.

The expectation changed before this September

The recognition caught up well before this September. Dartmouth announced his first All-Star selection in July 2026. By then, his story had moved beyond the pleasant surprise of a later-round pick reaching the majors.

MLB’s September 19 snapshot: .264 average, .363 on-base percentage, .897 OPS and 94 RBIs in 545 at-bats.

The next test is not a round number

The .363 on-base percentage belongs beside the home runs in this conversation. The Yankees need productive plate appearances on the nights a ball does not leave the park, too. How Rice adjusts when pitchers change their approach will help determine how long this success lasts.

Forty would be a fine number to celebrate. The larger achievement is that a player drafted 363rd has made it feel within reach. New York found room for his bat to develop. The old draft position can remain a good part of the story without becoming the limit on it.