Potentially, the steal of the draft. Lombard is the brother of George Lombard Jr. -- and of course the son of former big-leaguer George Lombard -- and with all due respect to those two names, Jacob has a chance to be the best of the family. He’s an outstanding athlete that puts up plus-plus run times, and on top of that upper-echelon speed, he has significant power potential in his right-handed bat. There are likely going to be contact issues because of his long swing and aggressive approach, but the ball jumps off of his bat, so he could be the rare player who strikes out a bunch and hits for a high average. Lombard also should be able to stay at shortstop, but he could probably play anywhere but behind the plate as a professional. There’s a little bit of risk because of the swing-and-miss, but you could argue that his profile comes with the most reward of any bat in the class.
- Christopher Crawford
