{"id":1293,"date":"2025-04-29T12:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/1293\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T12:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:19:06","slug":"yankees-top-prospect-george-lombard-jr-19-has-sights-set-on-bronx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/1293\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees’ top prospect George Lombard Jr., 19, has sights set on Bronx"},"content":{"rendered":"

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. \u2014 It wasn\u2019t too long ago that the Hudson Valley Renegades featured a bright, young, and immensely talented shortstop ticketed for stardom with the squad\u2019s parent club: the New York Yankees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That was in 2021, and that player is now a mainstay in the Yanks lineup.<\/p>\n

The High-A affiliate for the Bronx Bombers is currently led by a player with a very similar profile, 19-year-old George Lombard Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lombard Jr. was a first-round pick in 2023 and has soared up prospect ranking boards, including MLB.com<\/a>, which currently has the son of a former major league player and current Detroit Tigers<\/a> bench coach, as the Yankees’ top prospect.<\/p>\n

The slick-fielding, bilingual (his mother is of Cuban descent) Lombard Jr. may soon be on a collision course with Anthony Volpe<\/a>, that ex-Renegade shortstop who popped 15 home runs in 213 at bats in \u201821, for the coveted shortstop position in New York.<\/p>\n

It may be premature to envision a competition there, but that enviable \u201cproblem\u201d may also become moot thanks to Lombard Jr.\u2019s versatility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played shortstop my whole life; I love playing shortstop, but I pride myself on being a good baseball player,\u201d Lombard Jr. told USA TODAY Sports. \u201cI\u2019ve never played outfield before, but I am confident that if I had to go play outfield tomorrow, I could figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lombard Jr. can also play other infield positions \u2013 having already seen time at second and third this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe drafted him as a shortstop. I think that is probably where he stays, (but) you never know with this game,\u201d said Renegades manager James Cooper. \u201cGeorge is a baseball player. If he had to be a catcher, he could be a catcher. If he had to be a center-fielder, he\u2019d be a center-fielder.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there may be some discussion regarding his future position, the South Florida native, who according to Cooper, \u201cgot after it in the weight room,\u201d is eliminating all questioning regarding his performance at the plate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a lot stronger,\u201d said Tom DeAngelis, the Renegades’ hitting coach. \u201cHe\u2019s hitting the ball really well; he\u2019s making great decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strength and know-how have translated into strong numbers early on.<\/p>\n

Lombard Jr.’s exit velocity has clocked in at over 110 mph, and he’s batting .306 with nine steals, 20 walks to 18 strikeouts and a .956 OPS entering Monday.<\/p>\n

It amounts to a great deal of optimism from both Yankees fans, and those who witness his prowess each day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of his potential at the plate \u2013 it\u2019s really staggering,\u201d said Joe Vasile, Hudson Valley\u2019s play-by-play broadcaster. \u201cWhat I have been so impressed with is his natural power to right field and to right-centerfield. And, I think in Yankee Stadium that\u2019s the kind of thing that could make him(a) 25-30 home run per year guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the youngster continues to garner accolades, including receiving a huge compliment from Aaron Judge during spring training, Lombard Jr. is similar to most teenagers.<\/p>\n

He loves sushi, pizza, and the tacos at Hudson Taco, listens to hip hop, reggae, Spanish music, and Salsa, and especially enjoys performers including J. Cole, old school New York rappers, and Celia Cruz.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s his maturity that makes Lombard Jr., who turns 20 on June 2, so unique.<\/p>\n

During a recent interview with USA TODAY Sports, Lombard Jr. mentioned multiple times that he is \u201cstaying where my feet are and staying present.\u201d Not an easy task for someone so young and talented, and for a player with such lofty expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never looks like he\u2019s out of control on the field,\u201d said Vasile. \u201cHe never looks like he\u2019s overly emotional; just kind of cool, calm, and collected all of the time. And he\u2019s very much the same off the field too.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Lombard Jr., that ability to be laser focused on the task at hand is a direct reflection on the tutelage he was provided by his parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI give a lot of that credit to my dad and my mom too,\u201d said Lombard Jr. \u201cShe probably doesn\u2019t get as much credit as she deserves \u2013 probably never will. She has just been such a staple in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father George Lombard Sr. played 144 MLB games from 1998-2006 with the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Washington Nationals before beginning his coaching career, serving as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ first-base coach from 2016-2020 and Detroit’s bench coach since 2021.<\/p>\n

The younger Lombard’s ability to excel on the field, serve as a team leader, and expertly handle the attention – all at such a young age, has impressed just about everyone he\u2019s come in contact with this season \u2013 including his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d said Renegades infielder Jose Colmenares. \u201cThis guy is out of this planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Renegades season began a few short weeks ago, but if Lombard Jr. continues the trajectory he\u2019s been on, there soon may be calls to promote him to Double-A Somerset.<\/p>\n

But while Lombard Jr. says a callup to Somerset this season would be \u201cgreat,\u201d the eventual goal is to play at what legendary sports talk show host Art Rust Jr. called, \u201cthe big ball orchard in the South Bronx.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timetable for that is fluid, but if the opportunity does present itself, Lombard Jr. knows it will be memorable for numerous reasons, including the famous \u201cRoll Call\u201d chant initiated by the \u201cBleacher Creatures\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a special feeling \u2013 that energy, the passion,\u201d said Lombard Jr. \u201cI can\u2019t speak from experience, but from what I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s something that you feel deep down and it sticks with you. I couldn\u2019t tell you how it\u2019s going to feel, but I can tell you that I would be pumped for it and really excited to get there one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news \u2014 fast.\u00a0Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. \u2014 It wasn\u2019t too long ago that the Hudson Valley Renegades featured a bright, young,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1202,106,823,1205,5,147,53,1203,1199,1204,4,306,319,292,62,169,300,316,301,185,317,1200,594,1201,142,293],"class_list":{"0":"post-1293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-aaron","9":"tag-aaron-judge","10":"tag-anthony","11":"tag-anthony-volpe","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-detroit","14":"tag-detroit-tigers","15":"tag-judge","16":"tag-milb","17":"tag-milb-teams","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-national","20":"tag-national-sports","21":"tag-new","22":"tag-new-york-yankees","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-overall","25":"tag-overall-positive","26":"tag-positive","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-sports-news","29":"tag-teams","30":"tag-tigers","31":"tag-volpe","32":"tag-yankees","33":"tag-york"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114421220239216487","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}