Top Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr. avoids worst but injury timeline is still murky
Considering how it looked in the moment, George Lombard Jr.may have avoided the worst.The Yankees’ top prospect “sprained a couple fingers” on his left hand, a team spokesman said Wednesday night, a day after Lombard left Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s game after jamming his left hand into a base stealer while covering second base.
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.Lombard underwent tests Wednesday that came back negative, though it remains to be seen how long the sprained fingers will sideline him.The 21-year-old shortstop is hitting .231 with a .765 OPS and eight steals through 42 games at Triple-A, though he has been better of late after a slow start following an early-season promotion from Double-A.Lombard has a chance to play his way into the Yankees’ plans this season depending on how he performs.
The organization already believes he is big league-ready defensively — he has also mixed in third base and second base — but the question will be whether he can hit consistently enough to arrive in The Bronx this year.Of course, that also depends on how José Caballero and Anthony Volpe handle splitting shortstop duties for the Yankees.After throwing all of his pitches “with good intensity” Tuesday in his first full bullpen session since going on the injured list with a left elbow bone bruise last month, Max Fried reported feeling good Wednesday, the latest positive sign in his comeback.The left-hander will still need to show improved healing in his elbow before he is cleared to fully ramp up towards a return, but assuming he continues to bounce back well in the coming days, Fried will throw another bullpen session this weekend.“Just talking to him today, he said, ‘I felt great during it and then feel good coming into today,’ ” manager Aaron Boone said.
“So it’s been encouraging, really every step of the way, since even the cou...