Yankees' Aaron Judge believes George Lombard Jr. can handle the pressure of NY

During a conversation in George Lombard Jr.'s second  spring training with the big-league Yankees, captain Aaron Judge offered this observation:

“He’s built for New York.”

The three-time American League MVP was not just talking about Lombard’s considerable skill set, a collection of tools that earned the 21-year-old shortstop a promotion to the majors earlier this week.

No, Judge was referencing the daily pressure-cooker that is playing for the Yankees — the laser focus from fans and media alike that accompanies every game, every at-bat, every play in the field  — and a given player’s ability to deal with that.

Or, in many cases, their inability to deal with it.

From the time he made his major-league debut in 2016, Judge showed he could handle that spotlight. And pretty much from the first time he watched Lombard go about his work in his first spring training in 2025, he saw that the infielder could, too.

“His demeanor, how he carried himself, whether it was in meetings, on the field, during workouts. He was focused, dialed in,” Judge told Newsday on Wednesday, the day after Lombard debuted and homered in his second career at-bat. “Then, even in the games, he could be facing a three-time All-Star on the mound in a spring training game and he looked like he belonged. Sometimes you see young guys coming up — even for me when I was a young guy coming up — you’re almost trying to act the part, hoping that it seems that you can fit in. But he’s not only acting the part but he’s playing the part, too. You saw it right away.”

Judge said there is a “weight” that comes with playing in New York, something not every player is able to navigate. That take is slightly different from but ultimately similar to Reggie Jackson’s comment that “the pinstripes are heavy.”

“I think it’s just the expectations. The expectation to win at everything,” Judge said. “Win every pitch, win every play, win every game. There’s some places where you play that I’ve seen . . . Everybody expects to win and wants to win, but I think it’s more they want to win instead of expecting to win. Here in New York, we expect to win, and that can be a lot of weight on players. He [Lombard] has the right makeup to [handle that].”

Lombard, the Yankees' first-round draft pick in 2023, smiled broadly when told some of Judge’s comments before Friday night’s game against Atlanta.

“That’s really cool,” he said. “Obviously, cool coming from him, who’s basically the perfect example of that, of handling everything that comes with playing here. He’s someone I learn from every day, someone that I look up to.”

They met in 2023 shortly after Lombard was drafted. The infielder was at the club’s minor-league complex in Tampa and Judge, who recently had suffered the right toe injury in Los Angeles that would sink the Yankees’ 2023 season, was at the complex rehabbing.

“He was awesome from Day 1,” Lombard said. “He introduced himself and kind of treated me like I had known him already. He was making some throws from the outfield that I got to catch at second base, which was really cool.”

Lombard laughed at the memory of Judge introducing himself — something along the lines of “Hi, George, I’m Aaron Judge” — and recalled his first thought being “Uh, yes, I know who you are.”

“That just kind of speaks to the kind of person he is,” Lombard said.

Judge and Lombard were spoken of in similar terms when it comes to “makeup” during their respective climbs through the Yankees’ minor-league system — clubhouse leaders with a team-first, win-first mentality.

And they share more than that.

Both, for instance, homered in their big-league debuts. Judge did it in his first career at-bat on Aug. 13, 2016, at Yankee Stadium off Matt Andriese of the Rays.

Judge, however, soon was humbled. He finished that 2016 season with 42 strikeouts in 84 at-bats and hit .179. To this day, that batting average is the first thing he sees when he opens the “notes” app on his phone in which he constantly logs information: scouting reports on rival pitchers, past at-bats, work he’s doing in the cage, etc.

“This is a humbling game,” Judge has said multiple times over the years regarding the constant presence of that .179 batting average in his life. “It’s just a reminder that, hey, you’re never a finished product.”

Indeed, “humble” is a word that has been used to describe both players throughout their time with the Yankees.

Lombard nodded and smiled again when told that Judge, even with career accomplishments likely to land him in Cooperstown someday, is still holding on to .179.

“It’s a game that, whenever you feel like you’ve got things figured out, you feel you’re on top of it, it brings you right back down to earth,” Lombard said. “I’m always making sure that little voice in your head’s kept in check and you’re staying humble.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.