Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. impressive on field and in clubhouse
The Yankees' George Lombard Jr. hits a home run in the third inning of a spring training game against the Houston Astros at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., on March 1. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — It is a fine line that any touted prospect walks when he enters a big-league clubhouse — whether in spring training or after being called up in-season — for the first time.
To appropriate from John Wooden, be quick but don’t hurry.
Appear comfortable, but not too comfortable. Be confident, just not too confident.
Always, always be accountable.
The days of rookie and/or prospect hazing in the major leagues have mostly been shoved into the game’s past — where they belong — but young players still can rub veterans the wrong way.
The most recent example of that with the Yankees is Clint Frazier — he of the “legendary bat speed,” a phrase from Brian Cashman the general manager surely wishes he had back — who pretty much from his first day in big-league camp managed to grate on many of his teammates.
CC Sabathia, the Hall of Famer known throughout his career as one of the game’s great teammates, took an almost instant dislike to Frazier on the first day of camp in 2017.
(This is the same Sabathia who was the first to reach out to a just-drafted Aaron Judge in June 2013 when the nervous outfielder showed up in Oakland to take pregame batting practice. Sabathia insisted that the fellow Bay Area native join him at his table as he ate in the clubhouse.)
George Lombard Jr., a 19-year-old infielder ranked as the club’s second-best prospect by multiple publications — and ranked No. 1 by more than a few rival scouts assigned to the Yankees' system — has walked that line expertly.
“You know it when you see it,” one veteran Yankee said of how a high-level prospect handles himself in the clubhouse around major-leaguers. “You see, whatever the ‘it’ is, with him [Lombard], you see it. He just gets it.”
The compact, athletic 6-2, 190-pound righthanded hitter chalks up his comfort level in a big-league clubhouse to the fact that he’s been around them as long as he can remember. Lombard’s father, George Lombard, played on and off in the majors from 1998-2006 and currently is a member of AJ Hinch’s staff in Detroit.
“No doubt,” the younger Lombard, the Yankees’ first-round pick (26th overall) in the 2023 draft, said earlier in camp. “Both baseball-wise, being around the game so much and learning the game, and then kind of learning how the clubhouse works, the dynamics of clubhouses, 100% [has helped with] the comfort level. Just from day-to-day things, whether how their routines work, being somewhat familiar with that or having interactions with guys from a young age, definitely a huge help.”
All of that, of course, is well and good, but talent is paramount — and Lombard, in the words of one veteran American League scout, “checks all the boxes.”
“Mature well beyond his years,” said the scout, who saw Lombard last season in the minors and has seen him throughout spring training. “You just see it during the [Grapefruit League] games. Forget the results. Physically, he’s not overmatched in the box, he’s not overwhelmed in the field. Looks like he belongs out there. And you see it on the back fields when he’s getting his work in — how he goes about the work, how he interacts with his teammates. Like I said, all of the boxes.”
Lombard, who started last season with Low-A Tampa and ended the year with High-A Hudson Valley, is all but certain to start this season with Hudson Valley.
The natural shortstop also played second and third last year. “He can play defense up here [the majors] now,” another AL scout said. “And I think the hitting will come and come fast.”
Multiple scouts described Lombard as a “fast-trajectory guy,” meaning that rare player who could have a meteoric rise through the minors into the majors at a young age. Much like Jasson Dominguez, who made his big-league debut in 2023 at the age of 20.
Lombard’s ability to do that will be determined by his bat-to-ball skills, still very much a work in progress, but it’s hard to find anyone — inside the Yankees' organization or outside it — who doesn’t believe that will come soon.
“The tools,” Judge said of Lombard, “are all there.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
