Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. was the big story of the spring. Drafted with the 26th overall pick in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft, the 19-year-old infielder made some adjustments to his swing after a lackluster first full professional season. MLB.com’s minor-league outlet, MLB Pipeline, was impressed enough to rank Lombard No. 1 in the Yankees’ system, ahead of slugging 2022 first-rounder Spencer Jones.

Despite posting a .231/.286/.462 slash line in the spring and catching the attention of both manager Aaron Boone and captain Aaron Judge, Lombard began the season back in High-A with the Hudson Valley Renegades, at the same level he ended the 2024 campaign. Still, he only had 29 games under his belt with Hudson Valley, so it was far from controversial for the Yankees to want to see how the changes might have improved his output at the same level.

Lombard’s 2025 stint with the Renegades proved to be short-lived. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported a few minutes ago that the Yankees were promoting him to Double-A Somerset.

The move should come as no surprise to anyone who has been watching the Yankees farm system in recent years. While the Yankees have a reputation for bringing their prospects along slowly, they have been more aggressive promoting prospects once they have shown conclusively that they have conquered the level. A .329/.496/.488 slash line with more walks than strikeouts certainly counts as conquering High-A. Furthermore, not only have his numbers popped off the page, but rival scouts have been raving about everything to his poise on the field to his increased power after an offseason working with a professional training staff.

Lombard’s arrival in Somerset will certainly get fans dreaming of him taking the third base job by the end of the season, taking over from the Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza platoon. That is almost certainly premature: earlier this week, Brendan Kuty quoted an anonymous Yankees official saying that it would be unfair to thrust the youngster into the middle of a pennant race at such a young age and with so few minor-league games under his belt. Further, the jump from High-A to Double-A alone is considered one of the most difficult to make in pro ball — even more so than the leap from Double-A to Triple-A.

This is a deserved challenged for Lombard, and there’s plenty of reason for excitement about the acclaimed infielder — if not for 2025, then for 2026 and beyond.