During Sunday’s spring training, the Yankees played two games, with Juan Soto stealing the spotlight in a 12-6 victory, and a young shortstop prospect hitting his first home run.
Who is George Lombard Jr.?
The prospect making waves is George Lombard Jr., the Yankees‘ 2023 first-round pick. In the eighth inning, the 18-year-old, selected 26th overall from Gulliver Prep High School (Fla.), smashed a two-run shot, contributing to the Yankees’ 12-6 lead. Lombard Jr. finished the day with a 1-for-1 performance and a walk.
George Lombard Jr.’s name might sound familiar as he is the son of former major leaguer George Lombard. The young shortstop, committed to Vanderbilt like Anthony Volpe in the 2019 draft, faces a decision between heading to Nashville for college or starting his professional career with the Yankees.
Yankees look to develop young talent
In a past interview last year, Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ Vice President of Domestic Amateur Scouting, commended the numerous qualities of George Lombard Jr. The 18-year-old, a dual-sport athlete excelling in soccer, grabbed the Yankees’ attention with his athleticism, proficiency at shortstop, power at the plate, and impressive contact skills. Oppenheimer underscored Lombard Jr.’s determination, work ethic, and the added advantage of having major league lineage.
“You top that off with elite makeup — the guy has grit, he doesn’t take any pitches off and you get major league bloodlines having his dad being an ex-major league player and his mom being an elite soccer player and gymnast. Those kinds of things all add up to us to what we think we can get is a special prospect, special major league–type player.”
At that time, despite Anthony Volpe’s promising performance at shortstop, Oppenheimer stressed the Yankees’ commitment to selecting the most talented prospects in the draft, with a specific emphasis on athleticism in the middle of the field. Lombard Jr.’s selection garnered unanimous support within the organization, and Oppenheimer conveyed confidence in the decision.
George Lombard Sr., the father of the prospect, enjoyed a six-year career with the Braves, Tigers, Rays, and Nationals. Currently serving as the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers, Lombard Sr. imparts his major league experience to guide his son’s emerging career.
The Yankees envision Lombard Jr. as a shortstop despite his size, highlighting his athleticism and potential to hold a central position on the field. And maybe in this upcoming he Will have the chance to show his progress to the Yankees first team
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
I see Lombard moving to 3B in the future due to his size and athleticism..
Don’t forget Roderick Arias, who more than one scout has said, he could be one to move Volpe off SS. But remember, in the 1970s thae Brewers drafted 3 straight shortstops and they ended up all being in the starting infield for the 1982 AL Pennant winning Brewers. You have a SS, he is generally athletic enough to be moved all over the place. But the biggest problem is that the Yankees have this stupid developmental rule that their prospect don’t play a secondary field position unless the absolutely have to. Trey Sweeney never played 3B. Volpe in the minors never played 2B. Dominguez finally played other than CF because of Pereira and Florial. Even going back to 2008, the Yankees had 2 catchers who deserved playing time, but they literally were the DH & C. With no 1B prospect at the time, one of them, Montero or Romine could’ve played 1B at times too.
I’m still not convinced that Volpe can hit for a batting average consistently much over .230.
George Lombard Jr. looks like a very interesting prospect with a good pedigree. I just hope the Yankees don’t screw him up the way they mishandled Peraza in 2023, and even, to a lesser degree, Volpe, who could have used a month or two more working on his hitting in AAA, before starting in the majors.
I’ve seen both Volpe & Oswald Peraza play 5 times at the AA-level, and they both looked like future MLB players. (I live pretty close to the Yankees’ Somerset AA site, and the former AA site in Trenton.)
Peraza is an excellent fielder, with excellent range & a very strong arm; in fact, defensively, he looked superior to Volpe in AA, who looked very good, but more like an exceptional 2B to me, than a shortstop.
Peraza star has largely gone down because the Yankees completely indefensible misuse of Peraza last year.
You can’t play a kid like Peraza once every blue moon & expect him to perform at the MLB level when he’s still getting his baseball legs & fighting to convince Himself that he belongs at the MLB level.
For example, the Great Mickey Mantle wasn’t great initially in the minors, and he called his dad & said he wanted to quit. His father rushed to his minor league site & angrily started throwing clothes into a bag, saying, I thought I raised a man, not a quitter. That was the start of a HOF career.
Want a more contemporary example? Mike Schmidt, possibly the greatest all-round 3B of all-time, hit .196 with 136 Strikeouts in 367 ABs in his first lengthy look at MLB pitching in 1973. And those wonderfully understanding Philly fans (sarcasm) took an absolute S-fit, saying, we were misled about this piece of – well, you know.
Now, Peraza isn’t close to being a Mantle or Schmidt, but these two examples show that some players, even great players, need TIME & NURTURING to reach their potential; and I think Peraza is one of those players.
But the approach the Yankees took with Peraza last year was more likely to Destroy his confidence, then build it up, and, unfortunately, I think Peraza may only reach his full potential with some other team, which is a shame.