Yankees’ Ben Rice passes test working with Max Fried

Consider Wednesday night a prime example of why the Yankees keep giving Ben Rice defensive tests.

He’s too valuable to be on the bench.

In the second game of this series against the White Sox, Rice was behind the plate, catching Max Fried for the first time and lashing a triple to continue his strong September in an 8-1 win.

Aaron Boone didn’t want to call it a tryout, or even a potential preview of what’s to come in the postseason.

But he had been meaning to pair Rice with Fried for weeks, and this offered a good opportunity to do so.

The White Sox were throwing a bullpen game, and he wanted to balance out the lineup as much as possible, with Paul Goldschmidt at first base.

Still, it could wind up being helpful that the two worked as a battery for one night.

“If we do make a deep run in the postseason, who knows what comes up,” Boone said. “Getting them together at once, I think there is some benefit to that.”

The two looked mostly in sync. Fried allowed just one earned run over seven innings in adding his 19th win of the season.

“It was great, great to finally work together,” Fried said. “He’s been working really hard. Especially the transition of playing a lot of first base and then catching sporadically and then getting more starts.”

Rice, a potent left-handed hitter with an .829 OPS and 24 homers in 457 at-bats, was excited for the opportunity to catch the Yankees ace.

He started behind the plate for the first time in the major leagues back on June 18, and this marked his 25th game as the Yankees starting catcher.

Rice’s focus over the season’s first few months was as a designated hitter and first baseman, but he also made sure to include catching among his responsibilities. He sat in on scouting meetings and caught bullpen sessions.

He has grown more comfortable over time at that spot.

“I’m glad we’re getting one in, just in case it does happen [in the playoffs],” Rice said. “The biggest thing is just figuring out a way to get on the same page. I’m sure there’s going to be a good amount of shakes throughout the start, and that’s just a learning curve that you go through with any pitcher you don’t have a lot of experience with.

“I’m just hoping we can find a way to get on the same page as quickly as possible, and then that’ll serve us well going forward if we line up again.”