George Lombard Jr. Struggles in AA Early On
A Blog by Greg
On May 5, 2025, the New York Yankees promoted their top prospect, George Lombard Jr., to their AA affiliate, the Somerset Patriots. In his 24 games with the Yankees’ A+ club (the Hudson Valley Renegades) before his promotion, the 20-year-old shortstop was nothing short of phenomenal. His batting average was .329, and his OPS was an incredible .983, he stole 11 bases, and walked 23 times. His performance was certainly worthy of moving up the ranks to higher-level baseball; however, since being promoted, Lombard has yet to realize the same level of success as he had with the Renegades this year.
In 30 games with the Somerset Patriots, Lombard’s hitting statistics have dropped all around from his time in Hudson Valley this season:
AVG .329 → .204
OBP .495 → .349
SLG .488 → .262
Walk % 20.7 → 17.8
K% 19.8 → 24.8
BABIP .433 → .288
ISO .159 → .058
wOBP .461 → .302
WRC+ 185 → 95
These numbers clearly display a sharp decline in George Lombard’s overall offensive production from A+ to AA. In my opinion, the most startling decline is in his power statistics. While Lombard was never touted as a “power hitter” necessarily, his SLG% and ISO (isolated power calculated by subtracting AVG from SLG) in AA are far too low for a prospect of his caliber. Additionally, a WRC+ of 95 ranks him as a “below average” hitter amongst AA ball players, which again is concerning for a player who was drafted in the 1st round of the MLB amateur draft a few years ago.
While it appears that Lombard has yet to adjust to AA baseball, I am not ready to be fully concerned just yet. Lombard just turned 20 years old about a week ago and is 3.7 years younger than the average AA player. Additionally, he struggled in a similar way when making the jump from A to A+ baseball in 2024. His slash line in A in 2024 was .232/.344/.348, and his WRC+ was 105 in 81 games. When he was promoted to A+ that same year, his slash line dropped to .226/.321/.296, and his WRC+ decreased to a very poor 85. While the decline he experienced from promotion in 2024 is certainly not as drastic as his decline this year, it adds important historical context to George Lombard Jr.’s situation.
The young infielder is not projected to make his major league debut until 2027, so he has plenty of time to adjust to high-level minor league play. I, for one, am very excited to see how Lombard develops in the Yankees’ farm system and am not nearly as concerned as some skeptics with his early struggles with the Somerset Patriots.
Thank you for reading, everyone, and make sure to stay tuned for more articles posted daily at The Skippers View. I will continue to provide updates on George Lombard Jr. and other Yankees’ prospects as the 2025 baseball season continues!