Multiple sprained fingers have cost George Lombard Jr. time at Triple-A, but he is on the precipice of rehab games and may not be far off from The Bronx at some point after he proves he is healthy.
The club’s top prospect has resumed hitting, in addition to field work, putting him in position to go on a minor league rehab assignment “somewhere around this All-Star break,” Cashman said Thursday.
And once he returns to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, if he picks up where he left off before the injury, he has a chance to force his way to the Yankees.
That would depend on what their shortstop situation looks like with José Caballero and Anthony Volpe.
“Looking forward to getting him back and active and he might be a choice at some point,” Cashman said. “More importantly, we just got to get him playing again and turning him loose again in Triple-A. Really talented player that offensively was coming a long way of closing the gap despite his age. Defensively, he’s plug-and-play, ready to go.”
The 21-year-old Lombard, after an early-season promotion from Double-A, was hitting .231 with a .765 OPS and eight steals in 42 games at Triple-A before getting hurt June 16.
But he had been heating up prior to the injury — “thriving and conquering the final level,” as Cashman put it — hitting .306 with a .998 OPS in 14 June games.
“He’d been pushing himself before the injury,” Cashman said.
