The near-daily dose of George Lombard Jr. dominance of Double-A pitching was served in the eighth inning Tuesday night as the Yankees’ No. 1 prospect rocketed a solo homer in Somerset's 8-5 loss to Richmond at CarMax Park.
Lombard’s homer was his second in as many games, marking the second time in his career he’s homered in back-to-back outings (July 19-20, 2025, also for Somerset). Adding additional heft was that it came off southpaw Jack Choate (Giants). Lombard hit just .184 with a .685 OPS against left-handers in 2025, numbers he has begun to flip the script on at the start of this year (7-for-19 with three extra-base hits).
Overall, it’s been a torrid start to 2026 for MLB’s No. 27 prospect, who is slashing .382/.453/.709 through 14 games. Six of those contests have been multihit efforts and he’s plated a run in eight of them.
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Lombard is one of just 10 players in the Eastern League getting consistent at-bats while playing in their age-21 campaign or younger. Despite being nearly three years younger than the average player on the circuit, the Yankees' 2023 first-round pick entered the night ranked inside the top 10 in nearly every major offensive category -- OPS, wOBA (.472), wRC+ (178).
It’s a lofty pace to keep up for an entire campaign, but for context, just one full-season Minor Leaguer finished with a wRC+ above 178 in 2025 -- MLB’s No. 2 prospect Kevin McGonigle (182), who signed a record $150 million contract extension with the Tigers earlier this month. MLB’s No. 1 prospect, Konnor Griffin, posted a 165 mark as he climbed three levels.
COMPLETE YANKEES PROSPECT COVERAGE
Elsewhere on the farm Tuesday, Anthony Volpe homered during his first rehab appearance for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (Jasson Domínguez followed suit as they went back-to-back in the sixth.) Kaeden Kent, the son of Hall of Famer Jeff and the club’s No. 13 prospect, drilled a walk-off home run for High-A Hudson Valley, toppling Mets prospects from Brooklyn.