George Lombard Jr. Joins a 1915 Yankees Error Club

George Lombard Jr. became the first Yankees shortstop since 1915 to make an error in six straight games, then left a Boston series with a sore right knee. The 21-year-old was still out of the lineup Tuesday in Anaheim, after manager Aaron Boone said he had run and taken ground balls and did not expect an injured-list stint.

The glove was the reason New York handed him the job. That is the part that will not leave the month.

The Yankees Called His Glove Plug-and-Play

When the Yankees weighed a promotion in early August, the questions were at the plate. General manager Brian Cashman had said more than once that he expected the youngster to be “plug and play” in the field, and on August 4 the club selected his contract from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned Anthony Volpe, the 2023 Gold Glove shortstop, to Triple-A.

Lombard, listed at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, was the 26th pick in 2023 out of Gulliver Prep in Miami and signed for $3.3 million. He is the son of George Lombard, the Detroit Tigers bench coach. He turned 21 on June 2, and he became the first Yankees shortstop to homer in a major league debut that night against St. Louis.

WHAT THEY HANDED HIM

• Everyday shortstop: Boone said after the call-up that Lombard would be the primary shortstop moving forward, and he started all 23 of his games there.
• A race, not a look: New York skipped an external shortstop fix at the trade deadline and dropped a 21-year-old into a fight with Tampa Bay and Boston.
• Volpe’s old ground: Volpe had four errors in 56 games this year and hit.240/.325/.322 with one home run and 19 RBIs before the demotion.

Through 23 games he is hitting.253/.310/.367 with two home runs and six RBIs in 87 plate appearances. The bat was always the projection. The glove was supposed to be the sure thing.

Six Straight Games Put Him Next to Peckinpaugh

Thursday’s 5-1 loss to Houston was his 20th big-league game. In the eighth inning, with the Yankees already down, Yainer Diaz chopped a slow ball to the left side that Lombard could not scoop. Third baseman José Caballero grabbed the bobble and threw wildly to first, and Christian Walker scored. Both men were charged with errors.

That play made Lombard the first Yankees shortstop since Roger Peckinpaugh in July 1915 to err in six straight games. No Yankee at any position had done it in a season since second baseman Chick Fewster in 1921. The Elias Sports Bureau said he was also the first player since 1992 with six straight, matching a run last put up by Cleveland infielder Mark Lewis.

Peckinpaugh later won a World Series and the 1925 Most Valuable Player Award, a fact the club was happy to mention. Lombard had one error through his first 14 games, on 64 chances. Then the next six games produced six more, on 29 chances.

HOW THE MISCUES BROKE DOWN

• Blue Jays weekend: A dropped foul popup and two booted grounders against Toronto, starting August 21.
• Forced throw: A throwing error Tuesday on a Jose Altuve ball that Jazz Chisholm Jr. had knocked down.
• Heel of the glove: A 105.2 mph Christian Walker grounder Wednesday that smacked the heel of the leather.
• Traffic with Caballero: Thursday’s in-between chopper, which Boone called indecisive, with both infielders going and stopping.

Those are not six copies of one broken skill. A popup, a rush throw, a hard hopper, and a shared read with Caballero all went on the same card, which is how a six-game streak can look both historic and sloppy at once. Gerrit Cole, who started Thursday, put it in the only language a pitcher cares about.

“Errors happen, unfortunately. Sometimes they happen in groups for everybody,” Cole said. “I think it’s just important to remember he’s a young player and he’s working his tail off to get better.”

Why Boone Kept Writing His Name In

Boone said he did not think a day off would help, trusted the talent, and wrote Lombard in for Friday’s series opener against Boston, plus both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader until the knee. The manager talked about players who start playing not to make a mistake, and he said he sensed a little of that after Thursday, but he still wanted the next ball hit at him.

It’s something I’m trying to figure out. Obviously, it’s not acceptable. It can’t happen at this level. If you make your pitchers have to get extra outs, it just makes it way harder on us, and other teams are going to capitalize. It’s something we’re definitely going to have to clean up.

George Lombard Jr., Yankees shortstop, after the August 27 loss

He also said his main focus was to turn the page and want the next ball. Chisholm, his locker neighbor, said the 21-year-old did not look fazed in New York and kept looking for the next pitch to go make the next play. Boone’s version was that Lombard is skilled and gifted, foundationally sound, and that he would get through it once a few plays started to roll and he could play carefree.

Friday he did. New York beat Boston 1-0 in 2 hours and 47 minutes in front of 43,476 at Yankee Stadium, and the six-game streak ended. He started Saturday’s 6-0 loss in the day game too. The club that would not sit him for errors kept running him out there against a rival that entered the weekend two games back in the wild-card line.

A Check Swing Stopped the Experiment

In the second inning of Saturday’s nightcap, Lombard checked a swing on an inside Brayan Bello sinker, tried to get out of the way of the pitch, and grimaced as he grabbed the right knee. Boone said the spikes caught in the dirt. Head athletic trainer Tim Lentych came out, Lombard stayed in, and he singled to left on the next pitch, then flew out to end the third before he came off before the fourth.

Caballero slid from third to short. Amed Rosario took third. New York still won 9-2, and Lombard went to NewYork-Presbyterian for imaging. He later said it was a weird freak thing, that he was getting tight and did not want to push it, and that it was good it was nothing too serious.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The scan: An MRI found no tear. Lombard said all ligaments and everything major was fine, with swelling and soreness in the kneecap and patella tendon.
• The label: Boone called him day to day, said staff did not seem too concerned, and wanted the discomfort and swelling out.
• The next days: He sat Sunday’s 16-1 win, sat Monday in Anaheim after a 10-1 loss, and sat Tuesday after running and taking grounders. Boone said he did not anticipate an injured-list move and would not rule one out.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Wednesday: Whether he starts tonight at the Angels, with the club still on the West Coast.
• The IL: A stay has not been announced and has not been closed off.

Sunday he said it felt better than Saturday, a little stiff, with a little soreness and a little swelling, but not terrible. Boone hoped it was a one- or two-day thing and said Caballero would play shortstop until Lombard returns. The imaging showed no structural damage, which is why the club is still talking in days, not weeks.

THE WEEK THE GLOVE GAVE WAY

1. August 21-27: Errors in six straight games, the last of them in a 5-1 loss to Houston.
2. August 28: Starts at short in a 1-0 win over Boston and snaps the streak.
3. August 29: Starts both ends of a doubleheader, then leaves the 9-2 nightcap with right knee discomfort.
4. August 30: Sits a 16-1 win that clinches the season series.
5. September 1: Still out in Anaheim after grounders the day before.

New York took three of four from Boston and finished the year series 7-6, which also locked the head-to-head tiebreaker. After Sunday the Yankees were 78-59, four games ahead of the Red Sox at 74-63. Monday’s 10-1 loss in Anaheim made them 78-60. The historic slump did not sink that series. The check swing still took the shortstop off the field for the start of the road trip.

Scranton Has Volpe at Third Base Now

Caballero is the shortstop until the swelling goes. He called the MRI great news and said they need the whole group together and healthy. Rosario has already shown he can take third when Caballero has to slide over, which is the infield New York actually used once Lombard came out Saturday.

Volpe is not that infield. After the option on August 3, Boone said the former everyday shortstop would work at short and second in Triple-A, a shift for a player who had only been a shortstop in the majors. After Lombard’s knee scare, Scranton started Volpe at third base, a job he had barely touched even in the low minors.

That is the quiet roster fact under the 1915 trivia. The Yankees did not recall the man they demoted to cover the knee. They kept Caballero at six, left Volpe in Pennsylvania, and waited on a 21-year-old kneecap. Volpe’s 56-game line this year was already the reason they moved on. A sore patella did not reopen the old argument in the Bronx.

Lombard’s father played in the majors and now sits on Detroit’s bench, so the family knows how fast a good tool can look like a problem in a short sample. The son has already been on a minor league injured list this summer, from mid-June into mid-July, before the August call-up. The club is trying to keep this one off the big-league list.

Seven Errors in 98 Chances This Season

The raw card is ugly. The full line is stranger. He has seven errors in 98 chances over 202 innings, with 28 putouts, 63 assists, and 15 double plays, and a.929 fielding percentage against a.975 league mark at short. Range factor is 4.05 per nine innings, above the 3.72 league figure, which is how a player can boot balls and still get to extra ones.

THE GLOVE BY THE STRETCH

Scouting reports last year treated him as a reliable shortstop, with seven errors in 111 starts, plus enough range and arm to stay at the position. That is why Cashman used plug-and-play language, and why a six-game pileup landed so hard. The same player still turned double plays in his first week and still grades as a plus athlete who can make the extra play when the read is clean.

He has not been a black hole at the plate either, even if the last week went quiet. A triple off the loading dock in left-center on Thursday was one of New York’s few loud swings in the Houston loss. The night he hurt the knee, he still singled after the check swing. The last seven games sit at.208/.240/.292, which is a tired week, not a new profile.

Boone’s bet was that the glove would come back if he kept writing the name. For one night against Boston it did. Then a sinker, a check swing, and a spike in the dirt closed the notebook for him. Caballero is at short until the swelling drops. Lombard is 21, with a 1915 companion in the record book and a kneecap that, as of Tuesday, had not yet cleared him to start.