George Lombard Jr.'s silence at Triple-A surely took Yankees pressure off Anthony Volpe

Anthony Volpe was feeling pressure on all sides as he rehabbed his way back to relevance this spring. Beyond the usual vitriol from Yankees fans, Volpe was looking at the very real possibility of José Caballero stealing away his starting shortstop role (which did happen for more than a moment there, and Volpe's still not out of the woods). Volpe also had rapidly rising No. 1 prospect, George Lombard Jr. breathing down his neck.

As Lombard was crushing it in Double-A Somerset, plenty of fans began considering it a question of when, not if, the 20-year-old Lombard would usurp Volpe (and perhaps Caballero). Zoom ahead to the present, and that's no longer a conversation fans are having (and Volpe is under a lot less pressure because of it).

Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. has been really bad at the plate in Triple-A

Although he smacked his first Triple-A homer this week, Lombard has struggled immensely in Scranton since his promotion. Entering Thursday, Lombard was 19-for-93 (.204) in 24 games with more strikeouts (23) than walks (22).

The cold start for Lombard has Yankees observers back on the original train of thought that the top prospect is due to land in MLB in 2027 at the earliest. His sparkling stretch in Double-A to begin the year had many people dreaming of an expedited timeline, but Lombard is now back on his expected schedule. Volpe, meanwhile, has had a better start for the Yankees in 2026 than virtually anyone expected, even if it's been against some subpar competition.

Entering Thursday, Volpe was 9-for-35 since his return to the bigs with a homer, seven RBI, and two stolen bases. He's getting on base at a great rate (.409) thanks to tallying nine walks already. He also came through in the clutch for the Yanks during their up-and-down Subway Series against the Mets and then in the series opener vs the Royals.

It's been an ironic re-entrance to the Show for a player in Volpe who infamously admitted prior to re-joining the Yankees that everything about his role was out of his control (as if playing well wouldn't do anything to help). Volpe hasn't been flawless (he's committed some defensive gaffes), but he's already done enough to regain the confidence of Yankees manager Aaron Boone (we all saw this coming), who now has Volpe, for the most part, entrenched at shortstop while Caballero reverts to his multi-positional role defensively.

It's amazing what some good ol' production and clutch hitting can do for you! Volpe was in trade rumors a few weeks ago, with others saying that he should become the Yankees' utilityman (in the style of Caballero). Now it looks like he's on track to pick up where he left off, possibly dating all the way back to his encouraging rookie season.

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