Yankees Promote Top Prospect to Somerset

The New York Yankees have promoted top prospect, shortstop George Lombard Jr., to Double-A Somerset.

The 19-year-old Lombard Jr. is the son of former Major League outfielder and current Detroit Tigers bench coach, George Lombard; he will make his Patriots debut tonight when Somerset visits the Akron Rubber Ducks at 6:35 in Akron, Ohio.

Lombard Jr. will be the third youngest player at Double-A behind Texas shortstop Sebastian Walcott, according to Jeff Passon of ESPN.

Lombard Jr. will make his TD Bank debut in Patriots pinstripes next week when Somerset returns home to face the Boston Red Sox affiliate, the Portland Sea Dogs.

Per the Somerset Patriots, Lombard Jr. put together a .329/.495/.488 slash line in 24 games for High-A Hudson Valley before the promotion. He is among the South Atlantic League’s leaders with a .495 OBP (1^st), 22 runs scored (T-2^nd), eight doubles (2^nd), 23 walks (T-2^nd), tied for third in average at .329, 11 stolen bases (T-3^rd), 27 hits (5^th), 10 extra base hits (T-6^th), 40 total bases (8^th), and slugging percentage of .488 (9^th).

Lombard Jr. was originally selected by the Yankees in the first round (26^th overall) of the 2023 MLB Draft out of Gulliver Prep High School in Miami.

Lombard Jr. received an invite to 2025 Yankees Spring Training and received 26 at-bats over 14 games played.

He joins OF Spencer Jones to become the first Yankees’ top two prospects to be assigned to the Patriots at the same time in franchise history. It will also be the fourth straight season that the organization’s No. 1 prospect will appear in Somerset.

The call-up of Lombard to Somerset is interesting, considering that up in the Bronx, Anthony Volpe had dealt with a shoulder injury this past weekend, but did play in Monday's 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres. Volpe is hitting .228 with five homers and 20 RBI in the Big Leagues this year.