NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole first met Ben Rice when the slugger caught one of his rehab assignment starts for Double-A Somerset in June 2024. Cole knew the New York Yankees planned to promote Rice to Triple A immediately afterward, and the franchise stalwart relished his early look at one of the organization’s rising hitters.“I just left thinking this player’s got like a really good handle on what’s going on here, and he just kind of looks head and shoulders above everybody else,” Cole said of his initial impression of Rice, who would make his MLB debut later that year.Before Cam Schlittler debuted last July, Carlos Rodón stood in the bullpen and watched the rookie consistently pump 100 mph. It didn’t take long for the veteran to realize he was witnessing the early stages of an ace in the making.“It was pretty obvious to me that he’s really good at this game,” Rodón said of Schlittler.A year later, Rice and Schlittler are not just breakout stars for the Yankees. They’ve also developed into legitimate MVP and Cy Young Award contenders, respectively. In the process, the homegrown players have meaningfully altered the Yankees’ present — and future, far beyond 2026. While the Yankees remain focused on winning a championship this season with Aaron Judge at the center of everything, Rice and Schlittler have increasingly looked like the type of pillars capable of carrying the club into its next era.Rice, 27, won’t be eligible for free agency until 2031, while Schlittler, 25, won’t become a free agent until 2032. That gives the Yankees at least five more cost-controlled seasons for both players.When the Yankees aggressively pursued Juan Soto in free agency two years ago, part of the thinking was that he could become the face of the franchise once Judge’s prime ended. That, of course, did not come to fruition, as Soto opted to sign for more money with the New York Mets. But given how Rice and Schlittler have developed, the Yankees may already have their next foundational stars in-house — and at a fraction of Soto’s cost ($51 million average annual value). What Soto makes every two weeks is nearly the combined yearly salaries of both players.“To see them both playing at this high of a level, I can’t say I’m surprised,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Now it’s impossible to maybe expect one to be the MVP and one to be the Cy Young, but I’m not surprised. I don’t think any of us are surprised at their performance.”Rice and Schlittler were never supposed to become this, though. Neither ranked among the Yankees’ elite prospects. Neither arrived with the pedigree typically associated with potential franchise cornerstones. Rice was a 12th-round pick out of Dartmouth in 2021. Schlittler was drafted in the seventh round out of Northeastern in 2022. Neither generated much attention outside scouting circles. “We thought Rice could be an impactful bat, but in terms of projecting if they were both gonna do this in New York and all that stuff, I can’t say that,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said of his young stars.Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler, pictured last year, are under team control through 2031 and 2032, respectively. (Evan Bernstein / Getty Images)The Yankees might not have landed either player if Northeast area scout Matt Hyde hadn’t identified them years before they became household names. Hyde still remembers the moment he began envisioning Schlittler’s ceiling. Northeastern manager Mike Glavine, Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine’s brother, turned to Hyde one day while they watched Schlittler throw a bullpen and said that he believed, with proper training, the lanky, 6-foot-6 starter would eventually throw 100 mph.