Prospect expert has high praise for Yankees' George Lombard Jr.'s year-over-year jump

Anyone who watched New York Yankees top prospect George Lombard Jr. take the field in 2025 spring training had one immediate thought: He got huge, but in a good, normal way. He got Carlos Correa Huge. He got, "Hey, Maybe Think About Third Base Long-Term Instead of Shortstop, and Not Just Because We Have a Major Vacancy There?" Huge.

Still just 19 years old (and turning 20 in June), Lombard Jr.'s first full pro season was marked by relative obscurity. Thought of as toolsy, but less than ready, he didn't perform disastrously at Low-A Tampa, but rather skated through the season as a ghost, largely forgotten. His smooth instincts translated, but a .692 OPS and pedestrian five homers/.232 average/81 games played deserved to be overlooked.

This spring, though? Coming off an offseason where he was rumored to be involved in trade talks with the Astros for Kyle Tucker, both he and Luis Gil instead stayed put. While Gil's season has spiraled, Lombard Jr. was one of the clear winners of early spring.

In fact, prospect expert Chris Clegg marks him as making one of the game's clearest offseason leaps, and noted the clear differences in his foundation and approach in a side-by-side video.

Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. on pace for impressive leap in 2025 season

Spring Breakout represented a prime opportunity for plenty of Yankees draft picks to get a proper showcase, but Lombard got a head start on things by taking aim at the left field scoreboard during big-league games instead. With all eyes on the prospects, he went 1-for-4 with a walk, never subbed out despite already having piled up a heap of existing data against more established arms earlier in camp.

Despite the year-over-year bodily transformation, and plenty of appreciation for his skills from the experts, he still hasn't managed to get a lot of top-100 love; beyond Jasson Dominguez, the Yankees are largely absent from those exercises, and will be unrepresented after he (hopefully) graduates.

Lombard has the chance to not only crash the party midseason, but to reach the top 50, as long as he parlays his spring momentum into a standout stint with Hudson Valley. Spencer Jones struggled to do so last spring, but Lombard seems uniquely stable these days, and on an upward track. This could be fun.