WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. — The hottest hitter in the Yankees’ minor-league system so far this year has been the club’s highest-ranked prospect. George Lombard Jr. had his second three-hit game of the young season in High-A Hudson Valley’s win on Saturday, raising his batting average up to .329 through 24 games. Building on his impressive showing at his first major-league spring training, the shortstop has been on base almost half the time (.495) with a .983 OPS in his return to Hudson Valley. Both of those numbers, along with Lombard’s 11 stolen bases, are tops in the entire Yankees’ farm system. “I think the upside is huge,” Yankees director of hitting Jarret DeHart told NJ Advance Media. “He’s just scratching the surface of how good he can be, which is really, really exciting.” DeHart singled out how the 20-year-old has made adjustments and been able to develop on the fly throughout his first full professional season so far. As much as Lombard has been highly touted for years — he was picked in the first round by the Yankees in 2023 and is currently a top-100 prospect, per MLB Pipeline — he came to the Yankees without a ton of baseball experience. The phenom played high-level soccer throughout high school at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami and had only appeared in 123 pro ballgames before this season. “He had a small sample of baseball relative to a lot of other guys,” DeHart explained. “We all know he’s a special athlete, but I was really curious to see over time how he would adapt to more at-bats and more experience. He’s adapted extraordinarily well.” Hudson Valley manager James Cooper has worked with Lombard since the summer he was drafted down in the Florida Complex League. The next year, Cooper was Lombard’s manager during the shortstop’s stint with Class-A Tampa. Now, he’s back with the top prospect with the Renegades, seeing how much Lombard has grown … literally. “He’s way more physical now than he was two years ago,” Cooper said. “That’s a testament to him attacking the weights in the weight room, trying to get bigger, faster and stronger. He was trying to attack the weights so he could play every day. He’s one of those guys that’s real big on being available every single day. It worked out for him to where he’s gotten a little stronger, got a little bit more physical and the uniform fits him a little different. I think we’ve also been able to reap the benefits of the power numbers going up a little bit.” Asked how he’s different now than he was this time last year, Lombard spoke about his preparation. It’s a skill he’s been working on since he would go to the ballpark with his dad, George Lombard Sr., who played in parts of six MLB seasons and is currently the Tigers bench coach. He previously worked as the Dodgers’ first base coach, winning a World Series with Los Angeles in 2020. “I’ve been around the game a lot and know how the game works,” Lombard told NJ Advance Media, “but doing it yourself and being actually part of it, being on a team, being with the guys, playing every single day, it’s a different animal. So there’s a lot of learning experiences that go into that. Now, after having finished my first year and knowing how things go and how your body is going to feel during certain things, knowing what you need to get ready, things like that, I have more of that overall experience of knowing what it takes on a day-to-day basis and how to post every single day.” Patience is required with a player his age — don’t expect to see Lombard in pinstripes before the end of this year — but if Lombard keeps this up, he won’t be in High-A for too much longer. “As a young player who is super talented, super athletic and has the makeup that he has,” DeHart said, “a lot of this is just logging experience and accumulating that mental database of pitches that he’s seen and at-bats that he’s had. … I’m really confident that that experience is going to only make him better.” Lombard isn’t the only hitter who is swinging a hot bat in Hudson Valley right now. Here’s a deeper dive into two unranked prospects -— outfielder Jace Avina and corner infielder Parks Harber — with scouting reports from Cooper, DeHart and a National League scout who watches the Yankees’ farm system closely: Jace Avina, OF Size: 5-11, 180 Acquired: Avina was traded from the Brewers to the Yankees in November of 2023 as part of the return for slugging lefty Jake Bauers 2025 stats (with Hudson Valley): .329 BA (27-for-82), .467 OBP, .439 SLG, .906 OPS, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 18 R, 18 BB, 25 K, 2 SB What you need to know: Avina was considered a top-30 prospect when he came over from the Brewers, but he dropped out of the club’s rankings over his first full season in the Yankees’ system. He played in 92 games with High-A in 2024, slashing .245/.317/.399. Avina’s season was cut short by a torn labrum last year so he went into this past offseason hurt, but DeHart explained that the outfielder still managed to make it an extremely productive winter. He “crushed” all his non-physical work (perceptual pitch recognition training and mental game training) and the Yankees are now seeing the benefits of that effort in how he’s been able to cut down on swing and miss in the strike zone, taking his swing decision tool from good to elite. Cooper even compared Avina’s skillset to that of Twins star outfielder Byron Buxton. Cooper: “He’s in a really good place mentally and physically after getting over that injury. He has the skills and the tools to be a guy for us.” DeHart: “The biggest thing I think is just him being able to manage his emotions a little bit better. He’s an emotional dude. He plays hard. He really wants to succeed. Sometimes that could get the best of him at times. I think he’s had tremendous growth in that area, though. Kudos to him for really taking what could have been a useless offseason and making it super, super productive. … Also, he’s had so much success so far, I really want to see how he responds to some adversity and a little bit of failure, knowing that the psychological side of things has been a battle for him at times. I think that’s something that sometimes you don’t really get to test until you fail. I think he’s gonna handle it great with the work he’s put in so I’m optimistic about that. Basically, he needs to just keep doing what he’s doing and see what happens when the struggles come.” Scout’s take: “I like both [Avina and Harber], but I think they’re both more role players at the Major League level than everyday types. Would like to see [Jace] get to Double-A Somerset soon.” Parks Harber, 3B/1B Size: 6-3, 225 Acquired: Harber signed with the Yankees in July of 2024 as an undrafted free agent 2025 stats (with Tampa and Hudson Valley): .300 BA (27-for-90), .400 OBP, .533 SLG, .933 OPS, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 15 R, 13 BB, 27 K, 4 SB What you need to know: Harber swatted 20 home runs with North Carolina in 2024, hitting .343 with a 1.073 OPS over 61 games, but he didn’t get drafted. The Atlanta native had played his first three seasons of college ball at Georgia. Harber appeared in 23 games with Class-A Tampa in 2024. There were conversations within the org about bumping Harber up to High-A to begin the 2025 season, but he returned to Tampa because of roster construction and playing time. He was then promoted up to High-A Hudson Valley on April 29 after 20 games with the Tarpons. The plan is for Harber to play both third and first with some designated hitter mixed in with the Renegades moving forward. Cooper: “He’s a guy that’s going to hit the ball out of the ballpark to all fields. He’s naturally a first baseman, but he’s athletic enough to play third. So we’re just gonna see where we can develop him the most. If that glove comes around and he can be solid at third and the bat plays, then we’re looking at a big-time cog in the future.” DeHart: “We all kind of felt like there was more in the tank [after his performance last season and his underlying metrics]. He really got after it this offseason, made some really, really good changes that we all felt would help him reduce the fastball miss and help him tap into a little bit more power. He’s made improvements across the board. His swing decisions have been better, he’s made more contact, contact quality has gone from good to exceptionally good, his bat speed is way up, which is really, really exciting. … The power is the carrying tool. It’s major league type bat speed. It’s legit. The bat-to-ball is the thing that we need to monitor as he goes through different levels, making sure that he stays within an acceptable range as pitch quality gets better. That and the swing decisions. I think he’s going to be a guy that will probably have swing and miss in his game in general, just because the power is the carrying tool, but if you can keep that miss rate manageable and pair that with good swing decisions, that generally bodes for a lot of success.” Scout’s take: “I think he’s got a chance to stick there [at third base], but he’s more fringe defensively. He’s gotten in a lot better shape from last year and that’s helped with his agility there. He reminds me of [veteran first baseman] Garrett Cooper offensively.” Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.