George Lombard Jr. has spent his first taste of the majors looking like more than a glove-first stopgap for the Yankees. The 21-year-old shortstop has given New York real production at the plate, and the club believes the reasons go beyond a hot stretch of early results.
On Sunday in an 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, Lombard went 2-for-4, adding another strong day to what has been an encouraging opening run. Through 17 big-league games, he is hitting .288 with a .348 on-base percentage and a .755 OPS, along with two home runs and five RBIs. His 115 wRC+ means he has been 15 percent better than the average major-league hitter.
That kind of offensive start is part of why the Yankees turned to him as their everyday shortstop after the Aug. 3 trade deadline. It also stands in contrast to the path that eventually wore thin with Anthony Volpe, whose defense never made up for an offense that stalled in the majors.
Lombard’s bat has become the story, even if his defense has drawn most of the attention online. He’s shown the range, the arm and the explosiveness that made him a top prospect, though he has also committed an error in each of his last three games. Still, the Yankees see a player whose offensive growth is changing the conversation.
“He’s doing well,” Cody Bellinger said. “He’s taking his knocks.”
Manager Aaron Boone has liked what he has seen, too.
“It’s been excellent,” Boone said of Lombard’s presence at the plate.
Boone pointed to a player who understands the strike zone, makes adjustments and keeps the at-bats competitive. Lombard’s approach was on display Sunday.
He punched a ground-ball single through the right side in the second inning, scored on Spencer Jones’ double, then opened the sixth with an infield single on a dribbler to third before coming around on Trent Grisham’s bases-loaded walk. He also smoked a 104.7 mph lineout to shortstop in the seventh.
“He’s grown a lot as a hitter,” Boone said. “He knows the strike zone.
That’s always been something that he’s done a good job with and should continue that. He’s strong and has some power.”
The Yankees saw that development earlier in the year in the minors. Lombard tore through Double A with a .312 average and a .971 OPS in 20 games, then hit a wall after moving up to Triple A, batting just .196 in 28 games there going into June. But he finished strong, hitting .352 with a 1.117 OPS over his last 30 games, including two at the Florida Complex League during a rehab assignment, before getting the call to the majors.
When he arrived, Lombard said he wanted to focus on one thing at the plate.
“Having competitive at-bats,” he said at the time. “I’m not going to get a hit every at-bat. I’m trying to compete and I’m trying to battle you or wear you down.”
The Yankees are encouraged by the results, but they also know the numbers underneath the surface tell part of the story. Entering Sunday, Lombard had a .299 expected weighted on-base percentage, a 30.4 percent swing-and-miss rate and a 33.3 percent hard-hit percentage. That’s enough to raise the question of whether he’s been aided by some good fortune early on.
The organization isn’t sounding alarms.
“Your first year,” Bellinger said, “you’re going to have success, and then they’re going to figure you out. It’s going to be a cat-and-mouse game. I think he’s ready for it.”
What has stood out to the Yankees just as much as the swing is the way Lombard gets there. Hitting coach James Rowson said the young shortstop has built his game around curiosity and constant learning, often seeking out veterans in spring training to talk hitting.
“His reputation is so much about being a sponge,” Rowson told The Athletic. “Meaning, everyone who has ever been around him, everyone who has ever coached him - everyone talks about his desire to keep getting better, his desire to keep learning.”
Rowson said Lombard’s ability to absorb information and put it to work is what gives him such a high ceiling.
“He’s so talented that, once he gets that information, he’s able to put it into play,” the hitting coach said. “Obviously, sky’s the limit on that, but he’s definitely a coachable player and a guy who is going to learn quickly.”
Bellinger had a personal perspective on that, too. He recalled seeing Lombard as a 13-year-old taking ground balls at shortstop next to Corey Seager before games at Dodger Stadium, back when Bellinger was with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lombard’s father, George Sr., was on the Dodgers’ coaching staff. Bellinger brought that memory up to Lombard when the two were in a major-league lineup together for the first time on Sunday.
“To be teammates with him is pretty wild, man,” Bellinger said. “It is.
He’s such a good baseball player, and he was even impressive at his young age. He’s got the mentality.
He wants to be great. He’s doing a tremendous job.
The game comes to him very slowly, very smoothly. He knows where to be on the field.
He knows where to throw the ball.”
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