Yankees

George Lombard Jr. Did in 12 Games What Others Needed 100+ Games to Do, Insane Stat

By ••3 min read
George Lombard Jr. Did in 12 Games What Others Needed 100+ Games to Do, Insane Stat

George Lombard Jr. has played 12 major-league games.

That number is important, because somehow the Yankees’ 21-year-old rookie already finds himself sitting alongside some of the best defensive shortstops in baseball in a respected defensive metric.

A YES Network graphic making the rounds among Yankees fans showed the MLB leaders in Defensive Runs Saved at shortstop.

And Lombard’s name sitting there almost looks like a typo.

Tampa Bay’s Taylor Walls leads the majors with 16 DRS in 102 games. José Caballero and Masyn Winn each have 9.

Then comes Lombard.

8 Defensive Runs Saved. 12 games.

For comparison, Bobby Witt Jr. also has 8 DRS — in 107 games. Geraldo Perdomo has 8 in 121 games.

Yeah. This is getting interesting fast.

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What Exactly Are We Watching Here?

Defensive Runs Saved attempts to measure how many runs a defender prevents compared to an average player at his position. Range, throwing, positioning, turning difficult plays into outs and avoiding defensive mistakes all factor into the equation.

Lombard has accumulated approximately +8 DRS in roughly 100 innings at shortstop.

That’s an absurd amount of defensive impact in such a tiny sample.

Nobody should take 12 games and blindly project it across an entire season. Baseball doesn’t work that way. Players adjust. Defensive numbers fluctuate.

But you also don’t ignore what your eyes and the numbers are showing you.

Lombard looks comfortable.

He moves naturally around shortstop, gets himself into position, has plenty of arm and doesn’t appear overwhelmed by the speed of the major-league game.

And Yankees fans know exactly why this has created so much excitement.

The Yankees Have Been Waiting for This at Shortstop

Shortstop defense has been a constant conversation around this organization for years.

Now the Yankees may have promoted a 21-year-old prospect in August and immediately found somebody capable of changing the entire complexion of the infield.

That would’ve been exciting enough if Lombard were simply catching the baseball.

He’s also hitting.

Lombard entered the August 18 game batting .293/.370/.463, giving the Yankees exactly what they hoped to see when they decided it was time to find out whether their top prospect was ready for the Bronx.

So far?

He’s answering the question pretty loudly.

Don’t Project 40 DRS — Just Enjoy This

If you stretched Lombard’s early defensive pace across roughly 1,000 innings, you’d end up around 40 Defensive Runs Saved.

That’s obviously not a realistic expectation to place on a rookie after 12 games. Sustaining anything close to this rate would be historic territory.

But that’s almost beside the point.

The interesting part isn’t pretending Lombard will finish with 40 DRS.

It’s that after only a few weeks, he’s already accumulated the same defensive value as established everyday shortstops who have played more than 100 games.

That’s why the YES Network graphic saying Lombard is “cooking up something special” took off with Yankees fans.

This isn’t just prospect hype anymore.

Lombard is playing major-league games, producing major-league results and giving the Yankees something they desperately needed at 1 of the most important positions on the field.

12 games don’t make a career.

But 8 Defensive Runs Saved in 12 games?

That’s one hell of a way to introduce yourself.

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