Yankees Promoting Top Prospect George Lombard Jr. For Potential Mlb Debut: Report

The Yankees are promoting top prospect George Lombard Jr. for a potential MLB debut, according to multiple reports.

Lombard, 21, is the Yankees' No. 1 prospect and No. 20 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline's preseason rankings. 

The Yankees announced after the 13-7 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday that struggling shortstop Anthony Volpe, outfielder Jasson Dominguez, and reliever Angel Chivilli were optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. (Dominguez's spot will be taken by Heliot Ramos, added in a trade deadline day deal with San Francisco, and Chivilli will be replaced by an added bullpen arm after the righty got shellacked for six runs on three home runs in a tough eighth inning.)

The news of his promotion comes just hours after general manager Brian Cashman downplayed the idea of Lombard soon getting called up to the majors for his debut.

"If he does, we'll certainly let you know," Cashman said soon after Monday's MLB Trade Deadline passed. "Obviously tonight, that's not the case and it's business as usual the way we're currently set."

Lombard, who New York took with the 26th overall pick in the first round of the 2023 draft, is slashing .268/.405/.440 for an .845 OPS in 56 games with six home runs and 21 RBI at Triple-A this season, his first at that level. In 20 games with Double-A Somerset earlier this year, he had tallied 12 extra-base hits in 20 games with a .312/.400/.571 slash line for a .971 OPS.

Volpe, who has struggled for health this season, has slashed .240/.324/.322 for a .646 OPS (82 OPS+ and  87 wRC+) in 56 games. The fourth-year man is still looking to put together some consistency at the plate to go along with his solid defense, but in the small sample size of the 2026 campaign, he was showing slight improvement in that area. His walk percentage was up, strikeout percentage down, and weighted OBA (.294) was the highest of his career. But the power numbers were way down; he had just 11 extra-base hits (one home run) and 19 RBI.

Dominguez, who had a hit and two strikeouts looking in Monday's loss, was slashing .230/.270/.380 for a .650 OPS with six home runs and 14 RBI and 46 strikeouts to nine walks in 53 games on the year.