Yankees Announce George Lombard Jr. Decision on Saturday

The New York Yankees keep shuffling the deck as they try to close the gap in the American League East, and rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. is part of the latest tweak.

Manager Aaron Boone posted a slightly different batting order Saturday morning ahead of the second game of a three-game Subway Series against the Mets. Lombard, who hit sixth Friday night, slides down one spot to seventh.

The 21-year-old has started at shortstop in every game since the club called him up from Triple-A on Aug. 4. He is still finding his way at the plate, but Boone has shown little interest in taking the bat out of his hands.

New York rolled into Saturday with a four-game winning streak and an 85-62 record, three games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees beat the Mets 6-4 on Friday at Yankee Stadium, then turned around and asked Gerrit Cole to take the ball in the afternoon matchup.

Cole entered the day 8-8 with a 3.41 ERA. The Mets countered with left-hander Zac Thornton, who was 3-5 with a 3.53 ERA.

Boone also moved Aaron Judge into the second spot as the designated hitter and put veteran Paul Goldschmidt in the leadoff hole at first base. Anthony Volpe, back from the minors and coming off a grand slam earlier in the week, bumped up from ninth to eighth.

The rest of the order stayed familiar: Cody Bellinger in left, Heliot Ramos in right, Amed Rosario at third, Spencer Jones in center and Austin Wells behind the plate.

Underdog MLB posted the card this way: “Yankees 9/12 P. Goldschmidt 1B A. Judge DH C. Bellinger LF H. Ramos RF A. Rosario 3B S. Jones CF G. Lombard Jr. SS A. Volpe 2B A. Wells C G. Cole SP.”

Lombard has appeared in 30 games and gone 23-for-103 with three home runs, 11 RBIs and 14 runs. He is hitting .223 with a .350 slugging percentage and a .631 OPS.

Those numbers do not jump off the page, but they include a milestone. On Wednesday he crushed the Yankees’ first grand slam of the season, an opposite-field shot against Colorado that helped lock up a 6-1 win.

Boone liked more than the swing. After that game he talked about the kid’s composure.

“I think just his maturity,” Boone said. “Physical kid, talented. I think he’s going to be a really good player in this league for a long time. But right now it’s just his maturity. Doesn’t seem to speed up for him. He handles success and failures within the game, which you’re always going to have every single night, just maturely.”

The manager has said similar things since Lombard arrived. Early on, Boone called him “a strong, physical kid that, I think over time, is going to hit for some power.”

It has not all been smooth. Lombard went through a stretch in late August when the errors piled up — one in six straight games at one point, a streak that had not happened to a Yankee in more than a century. He also left a game against Boston with knee soreness, though imaging showed no structural damage.

Lombard shrugged off the scare at the time.

“I was getting a little tight during the game and didn’t want to push it too much,” he said. “It’s good that it’s nothing too serious.”

On the errors he was blunt: “It’s not acceptable.”

Boone never sat him for long. The manager said then that Lombard would “get through this and put it in the rearview mirror.”

That approach has defined the Yankees’ handling of their top prospect. They optioned Volpe to make room in August, then brought Volpe back once the roster expanded and the playoff push tightened. Now both young infielders are in the same lineup, with Lombard still at short and Volpe at second.

The Yankees have 15 games left after Saturday. They are chasing a division title and trying to lock down a strong wild-card seed. A healthy Judge, a functioning middle infield and a few timely hits from the bottom of the order would help.

Lombard is not carrying the club. He is just one piece Boone is moving around while the team is playing its best baseball in weeks. Saturday’s drop in the order is a small adjustment, the kind managers make every day in September.

Whether it produces another extra-base hit or another clean inning at short remains to be seen. The kid has already shown he can handle both the noise and the mistakes.