New York Yankees promote top prospect George Lombard Jr: reports

NEW YORK: The New York Yankees are set to promote highly rated prospect George Lombard Jr. to the major league roster after deciding to option shortstop Anthony Volpe to Triple-A, according to international media reports on Tuesday.

The move follows Monday's 13-7 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals, after which the Yankees also sent outfielder Jasson Dominguez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The roster changes create space for outfielder Heliot Ramos, who was acquired from the San Francisco Giants earlier on Monday.

Lombard started the season at Double-A before earning promotion to Triple-A in April. He has impressed by batting .268 with six home runs and an .845 OPS in 56 games.

After missing nearly a month with a finger injury, he has returned in fine form, hitting .377 with a 1.081 OPS across his last 14 games.

The Yankees believe Lombard is already capable of handling major league duties defensively. Although expected to feature at shortstop, he has also made 11 starts at third base this season.

General manager Brian Cashman admitted the club explored signing a shortstop before the trade deadline but failed to complete a deal.

"We engaged everybody," Cashman said.

"We tried to evaluate all opportunities in the marketplace. And, with that being said, I don't think there were a lot of opportunities that existed that were upgrades for us. We like the players we have and we like the players we have on the come."