Jim Rice had a heated conversation with a Red Sox staffer after he offered a hitter advice. Here’s what Rice said happened. - The Boston Globe (2025)

He’s listed as a special assignment instructor in the team’s media guide. The position has no formal responsibilities and is largely ceremonial.

“I don’t really have a role. I do NESN,” said Rice, a studio analyst for the network.

Rice still enjoys being around the game and the organization that has been part of his entire adult life. At times, he’s forged close relationships with active members of the roster such as David Ortiz — “David told me, ‘Four eyes are better than two.’ ” — and Jackie Bradley Jr. However, Rice said he tries not to impose his thoughts about hitting or the game unless solicited.

“They don’t want my expertise. So what do you do? Keep your mouth shut. You observe,” said Rice. “And then when you have a chance to say something, you say it.”

The occasions to contribute, Rice said, are rare — a contrast to his recollection of his baseball upbringing, when he tried to be a sponge around teammates, former players, and baseball lifers such as Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Rac Slider, Eddie Popowski, and Dick Berardino.

“I learned a lot from those guys. Just sit there and keep your mouth shut and open your ears,” said Rice. “That’s the way Freddie [Lynn] and I were [as rookies] in Winter Haven [in 1975].”

Based on his own career, Rice has plenty of disagreements with how hitting is now taught. He is distrustful of how technology and data-driven development has displaced feel for the game and athletic intuition. He believes pulling the ball in the air has been overemphasized, and that hitters should be more versatile and situationally adaptable while hitting line drives to all fields.

Williams praised Rice precisely for that ability.

“Pesky worked with me my whole career. ‘Hit line drives. Hit line drives,’ ” recounted Rice. “I hit line drives out of ballparks. I didn’t try to hit fly balls. Now they’re trying to get everybody to hit the ball in the air.”

Perhaps more fundamentally, Rice also feels strongly that major league experience is now discounted.

“There’s no expertise as far as major league knowledge, major league experience, [even with] guys that have been out and played 500, 1,000 games, 2,500 games, and have played every day and have put numbers up,” said Rice. “That’s not right. If I’m sitting down there and I tell this kid, ‘Hey, you’ve got to hit line drives,’ [members of the organization] come down and say, ‘Hey, we don’t teach that.’ ”

Still, Rice said he avoids volunteering his philosophical objections. He recognizes that players’ primary instruction can and should come from full-time hitting and pitching coaches.

But last week, Rice said, he was watching a young Red Sox player hit indoors. The player approached him for feedback — specifically about drifting forward in the batter’s box, rather than keeping his hands and body in a properly loaded position to create harder contact.

Asked for his thoughts, Rice offered them. According to Rice, an unidentified staffer intervened, saying the Hall of Famer’s advice didn’t align with the team’s approach.

“It was something I didn’t like, because I felt like I was disrespected,” said Rice. “I didn’t throw myself on anyone. I’m sitting down, having a coffee. Nobody’s bothering me. Someone comes over and asks me a question. What am I supposed to say? I didn’t go and get this kid. I didn’t go and bring this kid and say, ‘Hit like this.’ He came over and talked to me.

“That’s where I got [ticked] off,” Rice added. “I hear, ‘[the team doesn’t] want it taught like this. We want to hit the ball in the air and hit it hard.’ I’m like, ‘Hey, we weren’t talking to you. We were talking. This is our conversation.’ ”

Rice said he asked the staffer in question whether he’d played and was told no.

“ ‘Then you can’t talk to me,’ ” Rice said he responded. “ ‘Look at the [video] monitor, do what you do, and don’t talk to me.’ ”

The exchange became uncomfortably tense. Rice was asked to take the conversation outside of the cages, where a Globe reporter saw Red Sox big league hitting coach Pete Fatse trying to deescalate the situation with a visibly angry Rice.

Fatse declined comment on the matter. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow did not directly address the incident, instead commenting on the relationship between the Red Sox and iconic ex-players who are around the team.

“We have a deep respect and admiration for anyone who has put on a major league uniform. As someone who was fortunate to carve out a career in the major leagues, I especially appreciate the challenges players face,” Breslow texted. “Our organization is steeped in history and tradition, and we believe our path to lasting success requires a blend of traditional wisdom plus modern training.”

While the exchange was obviously upsetting, Rice said he’s moved past it, and simply wants to return to his normal spring training routine of spending time in camp and being around the game.

“I’m not going to say anything to hurt anyone. I’m going to try to help somebody to be better,” said Rice. “I don’t want to ruffle any more feathers. … There’s nothing I can do. If [the players] ask me something, I give them my expertise. I just don’t want to be a pain in the [rear].”

Peter Abraham contributed to this report.

Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.