George Lombard Jr.'s defensive slump is nothing compared to Yankees' Anthony Volpe disaster

We are officially in the Summer of George, and it's time for some decompressing. Expectations were sky-high when the New York Yankees called up George Lombard Jr., and as he's impressed right off the bat, somehow the hopes have only gotten higher.

That's why it's time to take a deep breath and recalibrate a bit. The 21-year-old has given us a spark with his bat, and he immediately dazzled in the field. But somehow, people seem to have forgotten that he's just getting his feet wet and will make mistakes.

The young phenom has had his struggles in the field of late, and it has caused a certain segment of the fanbase to break out the pitchforks. There are those who are still loyal to Anthony Volpe, and they're going to try and make ridiculous comparisons, like trying to use the fact that Lombard Jr. has committed four errors in 17 games while Volpe managed just four errors in 56 games as a reason to knock the youngster down a few pegs.

If we go by that logic alone, then Volpe was one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league last year. He committed 13 errors, which was the third most among qualified shortstops. Of course, the educated fan knows that errors aren't the be-all, be-all when it comes to defense.

Not only that, but Volpe was entering Year 4 in MLB when the 2026 season began. Lombard has been here for two weeks. Call us next May if Lombard Jr.'s defense remains an issue. We'll entertain the conversation then.

Time will prove that George Lombard Jr. is the Yankees' superior shortstop over Anthony Volpe

Without getting into the minutiae of how rangier players can get tagged with more errors than their more limited counterparts, or how sometimes, for whatever reason, errors aren't recorded as errors, we should all be able to agree that this is no way to evaluate defense.

We also must acknowledge the crazy, absolutely mind-boggling start that Lombard Jr. got off to. The kid posted eight defensive runs saved in just 11 games played. He was bound for some regression, and even if that means bobbling some easy ones. The baseball gods were always going to have their say.

There is a very big difference between Lombard Jr. and Volpe defensively. Lombard Jr. measures in at six-foot-two, 190 pounds, while Volpe checks in at five-foot-10, 197 pounds. That extra four inches makes a difference when it comes to reaching for ground balls in the hole, and it plays up the differences in arm strength between the two.

Lombard Jr.'s average arm strength has come in at 85.5 miles per hour so far, whereas Volpe has sat in the 81.5 miles per hour range his entire career (and posted an average arm strength of 79 miles per hour this season). This doesn't just impact the ability of each youngster to gun down runners, but also their instincts and sense of timing in the field.

Volpe, particularly during his defensive issues last season, struggled with timing, which in turn impacted numerous things such as his footwork and fluidity in the field. It caused him to be eaten up by short hops, led to hesitations while charging balls, and, of course, also created the conditions for some errant throws.

Lombard is going to make mistakes. He's still so young and is just getting started at the MLB level. And that's the biggest difference between him and Volpe, who has three-plus years of experience as a big leaguer. What the Yankees will ultimately get from Lombard Jr. remains to be seen, but it's a safe bet that he'll be better on the defensive side of the ball than Volpe ever was.

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