Erik Boland: Yankees' George Lombard Jr. has been stunning even his teammates with his defense
Yankees' George Lombard Jr. attempts to turn a double play in the sixth inning against the Blue Jays on Aug. 14, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Credit: Getty Images/Vaughn Ridley
BALTIMORE — Off the bat, pretty much everyone in the ballpark thought the Orioles' Christian Encarnacion-Strand had himself a hit.
Starting with the man on the mound, Yankees lefthander Carlos Rodon.
Encarnacion-Strand led off the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s game with a sharp grounder into the hole at short.
Even as rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. ranged to his right and backhanded the ball, with his feet touching the outfield grass, Rodon still had one thought: infield single.
“That ball’s deep in the hole,” Rodon said before Thursday night’s series finale against the Orioles at Camden Yards. “That’s usually a hit.”
With his momentum taking him several feet onto the grass, Lombard — from his back foot — fired an on-line rope to first baseman Luis Garcia Jr. to get Encarnacion-Strand by a step.
Rodon’s reaction?
TV cameras caught him mouthing in Lombard’s direction: “You’re a bad [expletive], man.”
For the uninitiated, one big-league teammate calling another a “bad [expletive]” is a phrase of admiration.
“Ranging to his right and then having to throw off the back foot, and then the throw is just like on the money, it’s not short-hopped,” Rodon told Newsday with a smile. “I don’t know. It’s just, he keeps making plays like that. I just reacted. And it’s not the first time. It’s like the seventh time and he’s played like 13 games. So I guess that’s why [I said it].”
Thursday night made it 14. Lombard was back at short and batting sixth in a game delayed 23 minutes by rain.
Entering Thursday, he also was getting it done at the plate, hitting .318 with an .857 OPS. He also had produced this eye-popping number: eight defensive runs saved in 118 innings played (the Rays' Taylor Walls leads major league shortstops with 16 defensive runs saved — in 867 2/3 innings).
“He’s so good, man,” said outfielder Cody Bellinger, who was slated to start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday night. “And I’ve been seeing it [during spring training the last two years with Lombard in big-league camp]. I’m just happy he’s been able to come up here and show it.”
Bellinger, like Rodon, shook his head when reviewing Lombard’s defensive gem from Tuesday. After the conclusion of that bottom of the fourth, Bellinger passed Gerrit Cole in the tunnel leading to the visiting clubhouse.
“We just gave each other the eye, like 'that’s a ridiculous play,’ ” Bellinger said.
The two veteran big-leaguers, with nine All-Star Game bids between them, didn’t need to share more than that. Just a knowing glance.
Third baseman Ryan McMahon had the best view of anyone.
“I mean, you watch it, he bobbled it, too, and was still able to get enough on it,” said McMahon, known throughout his 10 years in the majors for his fielding prowess. “The transition, man, just all his moves, they’re very athletic, very fluid. There’s just a lot of things you can’t really teach and it’s just how he goes about his business. And it’s pretty.”
McMahon lauded Lombard’s arm strength but said there’s more to it than that.
“I’ll call it quick. Talk about this a lot with guys who are trying to become good fielders. You have to understand how your body gets out of a certain position. Like if you end up in this position, you have to understand how you best get rid of it,” McMahon said, dropping to what would be an awkward throwing position. “And he has that. He bobbled that ball and was on his back foot and was still able to fire it quickly and get a lot on it. It’s quick, but it’s also easy. He’s able to slow it down, which is a really, really big thing, in my opinion.”
That Lombard’s fielding has stood out at this level isn’t a surprise. Shortly after Lombard was promoted to Double-A Somerset early in the 2025 season, more than a few rival scouts assigned to the Yankees' system started saying that he was big league-ready defensively.
At just about every step of Lombard’s climb through the Yankees' system, Lombard immediately shined on defense, with his bat taking a little while to get going.
Oddly, the one level at which that adjustment period hasn’t been necessary has been in the majors. Lombard has yet to look overmatched. Hitless in some games, yes, but never appearing out of his league, so to speak.
“He’s just really good,” Bellinger said. “Really good.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
