Ben Rice revealed on his Instagram page Tuesday afternoon that he will be among the participants in this year's Home Run Derby.
Rice, who just hit his 25th home run of the season in Monday night's win over the Rays, becomes the second confirmed contestant in the contest, which takes place on Monday, July 13 in Philadelphia. The other is Tampa slugger Junior Caminero.
The 27-year-old Rice broke out this season and emerged as an early MVP candidate, and while he has cooled off significantly since Aaron Judge's injury, he still boasts a 154 OPS+ while batting .267 with 57 RBI, numbers that seemingly make him a lock for this year's All-Star Game. Rice's father, Dan, will pitch to him. Robinson Cano won the event as a member of the Yankees in 2011 with his father pitching.
The last Yankee to win the event was Judge as a rookie in 2017. Tino Martinez and Jason Giambi round out the four Yankees to ever win the Derby, as Rice will look to become the fifth.
The last Yankee to participate was Rice's teammate, Jazz Chisholm, who was bounced in the first round last year. No Yankee had compete before Chisholm since 2017, when Judge won it while teammate Gary Sanchez competed as well, downing current Yankee Giancarlo Stanton in his home park in Miami before losing in the semifinals.
The lefty slugger will look to become the fifth Yankee to win the event.
The lefty slugger will look to become the fifth Yankee to win the event.
