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After some surprisingly strong contributors have emerged for the New York Yankees, the team could soon have a good problem on its hands.
Even with the loss of Juan Soto, the Yankees have seized first place in the American League East division with an offense that leads in several critical categories. Aaron Judge has been the biggest reason for that, but newcomer Paul Goldschmidt has been great as well.
The emergence of Ben Rice as a major power hitting threat has been critical, too. In his second big-league season, Rice is slashing .260/.368/.569 with nine homers and 20 RBI. His bat is so hot that the Yankees could have a real dilemma on their hands when Giancarlo Stanton is healthy enough to return to the lineup.
“How will the Yankees divvy up the DH at-bats between Ben Rice and Stanton?” NJ.com’s Max Goodman asked.
Rice has been hitting so well that he might force the Yankees to carve out some opportunities at DH for him for the rest of the season. But no matter what happens, the team has already ruled out moving Stanton to a defensive position.
“Rice definitely deserves to play against righties, but would Boone dare to turn Stanton in a platoon DH?” Goodman posed. “One thing that’s ruled out for this year (and maybe forever) is Stanton playing outfield.”
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In his 15-year big-league career, Stanton has considerable experience in the outfield, including 33 starts there in 2023 for the Yankees. But after playing exclusively in a DH role for all of 2024, it seems his days out there are now over, probably for good.
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Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
English (US)