Yankees biggest spring training star isn't the answer to New York's infield problem

Brian Cashman made a slew of offseason moves to fill massive holes on the New York Yankees roster. Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle were replaced by Devin Williams and Fernando Cruz. The Yankees traded Nestor Cortes Jr. to acquire Williams, but Max Fried was added prior to that deal taking place.

The Yankees upgraded at first base in a major way, going from Anthony Rizzo to Paul Goldschmidt. They didn't upgrade the outfield, which makes sense after losing a generational talent like Juan Soto, but going from Soto and Alex Verdugo to Cody Bellinger and Jasson Dominguez isn't the worst result in the world.

The one area Cashman, for whatever reason, refused to address was third base. Alex Bregman was on the open market all winter, but the Yankees had little to no interest there. Ha-Seong Kim felt like a realistic option, but the Yankees cheaped out there as well. Instead of adding literally anybody, the Yankees entered camp planning on sticking with their underwhelming internal options.

Given the fact that virtually no Yankees fan wants to see DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, or Oswald Peraza in the lineup every day, Yankees fans are hoping that one of the team's early spring training heroes, top infield prospect George Lombard Jr., can take the reins. But as fun as that'd be, he is not the answer.

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George Lombard Jr. is not the infield answer Yankees fans should be looking at

In a sense, it's hard to blame the sector of Yankees fans clamoring to see Lombard on the Opening Day roster. The trio of LeMahieu, Cabrera, and Peraza is an extremely underwhelming one, and Lombard has gone 5-for-15 with two home runs this spring. His play has opened some eyes, and given the fact that he's the organization's No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, he's got some serious potential.

While he has undoubtedly impressed, there are a couple of reasons why an Opening Day role for Lombard is not in the cards. First, he's just 19 years old. Yes, Soto debuted at that age, but a player to debut at 19 years old has to be incredibly polished. Lombard is not there yet.

Second and most importantly, Lombard is extremely inexperienced. He was selected by the Yankees in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft, and has not made it past High-A. As if that isn't enough, Lombard had an extremely underwhelming .672 OPS overall last season and a .616 OPS in the 29 games he played at High-A.

The likely favorite to start at third base, Oswaldo Cabrera, had a .661 OPS in 109 games in 2024. While that is obviously uninspiring, his OPS was nearly 60 points higher than Lombard's was several levels below.

Lombard has potential, and with a big year, might be able to make the Yankees contemplate calling him up. With that being said, Lombard is going to have to prove he can conquer the upper levels of the Minor Leagues before the Yankees even think of having him on their MLB roster.

This is a fun story, and it's definitely encouraging to see him have a strong start to spring training, but the fact that Yankees fans are thinking about him contributing on Opening Day says more about how underwhelming the third base competition than it does about Lombard actually having a realistic shot of being with the team.