George Lombard Jr. began his major league career by making New York Yankees history. Just three weeks later, the highly regarded shortstop has found himself in the record book for a much less welcome reason.
Lombard committed an error for the sixth consecutive game as the Yankees fell 5-1 to the Houston Astros. The streak made the 21-year-old the first Yankees shortstop since Roger Peckinpaugh in 1915 to record an error in six straight games.
It has been a difficult defensive stretch for a player who arrived in the majors with considerable expectations. Lombard has now committed seven errors through his first 20 games and owns a .925 fielding percentage.
Lombard Admits His Defense Isn’t Good Enough
After the loss, Lombard didn’t try to minimize the problem.
“It’s something we’re trying to figure out,” Lombard said. “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 teams are going to capitalize.”
The latest mistake came in the eighth inning with Houston’s Christian Walker on second base. Yainer Diaz sent a ground ball toward Lombard, but the ball caromed off the rookie’s glove and rolled to third baseman Jose Caballero.
Caballero then made a wild throw to first base and was charged with a throwing error as Walker came around to score Houston’s fifth run.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone pointed to some uncertainty over who should handle the ground ball as a factor in the play.
“The one today, it’s that in-between ball. So you’re like, is the third baseman getting there?” Boone said. “Is he not? There’s a little indecisiveness there. So I think that played into that a little bit.”
A Mistake That Keeps Costing the Yankees
It was also the second consecutive night in which a Lombard mistake helped Walker score. Lombard misplayed Walker’s seventh-inning grounder, allowing the tying run to cross the plate. The Yankees recovered from that mistake and eventually won 9-3.
The defensive trouble stands in sharp contrast to Lombard’s memorable arrival in the majors. Earlier this month, he became the first shortstop in Yankees history to homer in his major league debut. New York had previously relied on Anthony Volpe and Caballero at shortstop before promoting Lombard, its top prospect.
Lombard has shown flashes of his defense, including turning 15 double plays, but errors have been an issue at the position for New York. Yankees shortstops have combined for 16 errors this season.
Volpe also endured defensive difficulties last year, leading American League shortstops with 19 errors while playing the final four months with a torn labrum in his shoulder.
Boone Isn’t Giving Up on His Rookie Shortstop
For Lombard, the immediate challenge is stopping a six-game run that has quickly overshadowed his historic debut. He made clear that he understands how costly those extra outs can become.
“So it’s something that we’re definitely going to have to clean up, and I’ve got to be better tomorrow,” Lombard said.
Boone, meanwhile, remains confident that the rookie’s underlying defensive ability will eventually show itself more consistently.
“The good thing about George is you know he’s so skilled and gifted out there, and foundationally he’s really good, too,” Boone said. “So he will get through it.”
For a 21-year-old only 20 games into his major league career, the opening weeks have already delivered both extremes: a home run that had never been accomplished by a debuting Yankees shortstop, followed by an error streak the franchise had not seen at the position in more than a century.
