Ben Rice Becomes the First Yankees DH Named to an All-MLB Team

Ben Rice was named to the All-MLB Second Team on Wednesday night, and the honor carries a first that no Yankees designated hitter had managed before. Rice, 27, is the first player at the position in franchise history to be selected since the All-MLB awards were introduced in 2019, DAZN reports. The selection caps a breakout season in which he hit .264 with 41 home runs, 97 RBIs and an .897 OPS across 154 games.

What did Rice actually do this season?

He became one of the most productive hitters in baseball. His .534 slugging percentage ranked third in the majors and his .897 OPS ranked fourth, DAZN reports, while his 69 extra-base hits ranked sixth. He also drove in 16 game-winning runs, the fourth most in baseball. The power was not a September hot streak either: Rice earned his first All-Star selection in July, took part in the Home Run Derby, and then hit four home runs with nine RBIs in five postseason games before the Yankees were eliminated in the American League Division Series.

How big was the jump from last year?

Fifteen home runs and sixty-one points of OPS. Rice hit 26 home runs in 2025 and raised that to 41 in 2026, while his OPS climbed from .836 to .897, DAZN reports. That kind of second full season is what turns a useful bat into a middle-of-the-order one, and the All-MLB voters noticed: Rice was one of 15 first-time selections among the 32 players honored, MLB reports. The Yankees had seven players nominated in total, and two of them made the teams.

Whose company does 41 home runs put him in?

Joe DiMaggio and Aaron Judge. Rice joins them as the only players in Yankees history to hit at least 40 home runs within their first three major league seasons, DAZN reports. The path makes the number stranger: Rice was a 12th-round selection out of Dartmouth College in the 2021 draft, made his major league debut in June 2024, and has spent three seasons turning himself from a part-time player into a lineup fixture. DiMaggio and Judge were franchise cornerstones from the start. Rice arrived by the side door.

Who took the First Team spot ahead of him?

Yordan Alvarez, and it was not close. The Houston slugger took the First Team designated hitter place and collected five awards on the night, including the American League batting title, the Hank Aaron Award, the Comeback Player of the Year Award and the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award, MLB reports. Alvarez hit .316 with 42 home runs and a 1.033 OPS, and he was one of the unanimous MVP winners announced earlier this week, alongside the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong. Rice finishing second to that season is no slight.

Who else from the Yankees was honored?

Cam Schlittler, who was named to the All-MLB First Team as a starting pitcher after unanimously winning the American League Cy Young Award, DAZN reports. Schlittler went 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA and 239 strikeouts, and he was one of the youngest Cy Young winners in decades. The two selections tell the story of the Yankees’ 2026: a homegrown ace and a homegrown slugger, both honored in the same week the club’s front office locked in its own future.

What happens next for Rice?

The honor settles one question and opens another. Rice is now a proven middle-of-the-order bat, and the All-MLB selection is the first league-wide honor of his career. The open question is where the Yankees play him in 2027: as their everyday designated hitter, or moving between positions as they have done before. What changed on Wednesday is the leverage. A first-time All-Star with 41 home runs and an All-MLB selection does not go back to being a part-time player, and the Yankees’ offseason moves will show how they plan to build around him after a season that ended in another ALDS exit.