The New York Yankees acquired some significant bats at the MLB trade deadline. They might be about to add one more from their minor-league system.
The club is calling up top prospect George Lombard Jr. from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to YES Network’s Jack Curry. Going back top the minors will be shortstop Anthony Volpe, one of three players who were optioned after Monday’s game.
The 21-year-old Lombard, the son of current Detroit Tigers bench coach George Lombard, has loomed as a potential star for the Yankees for years. The team selected him No. 26 overall in the 2023 MLB Draft and he has steadily moved up through the minors since then.
The Yankees will task Lombard with stabilizing a shortstop position that has seen inconsistent play for most of the season between Volpe and José Caballero.
Manager Aaron Boone was excited about Lombard’s season last week, via The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty:
“I think he’s had an outstanding year. I think he’s gotten better. I think he continues to show a ton of progress. We love the kid and the makeup. It’s been fun to see him.”
In 56 games at Triple-A, Lombard has slashed .268/.405/.440. Different scouting services rank him differently overall, but they’re unanimous in deeming him the best player the Yankees system has to offer.
The Athletic currently has him as high as the No. 6 prospect in all of baseball, while Baseball America has him at No. 13, Fangraphs at No. 18, MLB Pipeline at No. 20 and Baseball Prospectus at No. 24. The consensus is that he’s gifted defensively with great speed and plate discipline, but with enough concerns about his strikeout rates to keep him out of the elite tier of prospects.
It’s a big moment for the Yankees, who sit 3.5 games back from the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. Injuries have bothered the team throughout the season and they still have Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and more on the injured list. Judge’s return date is still very much unknown, but they bought at the trade deadline with deals for Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos.
Garcia introduced himself nicely on Monday with a go-ahead homer in his Yankees debut, but that wasn’t enough to prevent a 13-7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
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