NEW YORK — When the Yankees’ flip arrived within the first spherical of the 2023 MLB Draft, there was solely a quick dialogue inside the partitions of the membership’s battle room at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., with the group swiftly settling upon highschool shortstop George Lombard Jr. because the twenty sixth decide within the nation.
“We had a lot of people on this one who were on board with George,” Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice chairman of novice home scouting, stated on Thursday. “There was no dissension at all in terms of picking him, so that worked out pretty good.”
The son of Tigers bench coach George Lombard, the 18-year-old is a right-handed-hitting shortstop from Gulliver Prep in Pinecrest, Fla., who confirmed off intriguing instruments on the summer time showcase circuit and took a strong step ahead in South Florida this spring.
A decide to Vanderbilt University, the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Lombard was additionally a state champion in soccer at Gulliver Prep. As a senior, he batted .478 with 34 runs, 14 doubles, six homers and 22 RBIs in 29 video games. The Miami Herald named him one of many Miami-Dade County Athletes of the Year for 2023.
“There’s a lot of things that intrigue us about him,” Oppenheimer stated. “His athleticism; the truth that he was a two-sport man as an elite soccer participant additionally. The means he performs shortstop, his instruments that he has to play shortstop, his energy that he has to swing the bat and his contact abilities. You prime that off with elite make-up, the man has grit.
“He doesn’t take any pitches off, and then you get Major League bloodlines, having his dad being an ex-Major League player and his mom being an elite [athlete]. Those kinds of things all add up for us to what we think we can get as a special prospect.”
After Lombard Jr., the Yanks’ Draft centered totally on faculty gamers, which Oppenheimer stated was “mostly organic.” Those selections have been primarily based partly upon the Yankees’ $5,299,400 bonus pool, the second lowest within the Draft, forward of solely the Phillies’ $5,185,500.
New York’s third-round choice was left-hander Kyle Carr, from Palomar (Calif.) College. Carr went 12-1 with a 2.31 ERA in 15 junior faculty video games (14 begins) after spending his first two years on the University of San Diego.
“He’s an athletic left-hander that has also been an outfielder,” Oppenheimer stated. “He could do both, but has leaned toward being a pitcher only. He’s a guy who [throws] 92 to 96 [mph] from the left side and throws strikes. He’s got a good, easy slider. The really exciting thing about him is, there’s … no effort to the way he does it. He just looks like he’s playing catch. There’s a little Tom Glavine look to the way he does it.”
In the fourth spherical, the Yanks chosen second baseman Roc Riggio from Oklahoma State. Riggio, 21, showcased his abilities and bravado in faculty ball, garnering nationwide consideration for a few memorable house run celebrations — experiences that determine to arrange him properly to sometime put on the pinstripes.
“He is a guy that the opposing team and the opposing fans are probably going to dislike, and his own teammates are going to love him because of how hard he plays the game, how intense he is and how much he wants to win,” Oppenheimer stated. “It’s just his style, and I don’t think you take away from a guy’s style. He’s a good player, and he can back it up.”
Asked about signability issues, Oppenheimer stated that a few of the picks are starting to journey to Florida for his or her physicals.
“We’re in a pretty good spot so far with most of our guys right now,” he stated. “It’s just a matter of crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s on some of the contracts.”
Content Source: www.mlb.com