Yankees make a change at shortshop
In the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, the position that seemingly everybody under the sun believed the Yankees should upgrade was at catcher. While division rivals Tampa Bay and Boston made deals to bolster things behind the plate, GM Brian Cashman stayed put. That should’ve been expected given his track record around this time of the season, but fans were nonetheless irate and declaring the deadline a failure. In fairness, Austin Wells is batting .333 in August, so maybe they’re fine at catcher?
Lost in all of the criticism was the fact that the Yankees could have upgraded at shortstop, too. Anthony Volpe has continued to underwhelm at the plate and in the field, while Jose Caballero has also had his struggles when he’s not busy getting into pitch clock controversy. Change was needed at the position, but it wouldn’t come from a deadline deal.
Enter George Lombard Jr.
The top prospect in the pipeline was called up to the big leagues on Tuesday while Volpe was simultaneously demoted to Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre. Later that night against the Cardinals, he conjured up a debut for the ages.
It’s one thing to hit a home run in your first-ever game in the majors. In fact, it’s not all that uncommon. He became the 14th Yankees to have a debut dinger, the first since Jasson Dominguez in 2023. But the defense he put on display was simply dazzling. He helped turn two double plays that would arguably merit putting a star next to in the scorebook.
How has he done since then? Through his first four games in the majors, he’s batting .385 (5-for-13) with two home runs, two runs driven in and four runs scored while continuing to be a defensive stalwart. Those following Lombard Jr. during his time in the minors knew his glove was MLB-ready for a long time, but the question was whether his bat was prepared for promotion. After batting a paltry .231 in 2024 and .235 in 2025, the 21 year-old has made significant improvements this season with his average up to .284. That hard work has paid off so far in pinstripes.
Although I’ve sung Lombard Jr.’s praises, this is the point where I remind Yankees fans not to anoint him as the next Derek Jeter. Need I remind them the last time they put such unrealistic expectations on an up-and-coming shortstop. You guessed it: Volpe.
Much like Lombard Jr., Volpe got off to a promising start in the majors. He hit 21 home runs despite batting .207, finished eighth in AL Rookie of the Year voting, and was a Gold Glove winner. Since then, his defense has declined, his woes at the plate persisted, and even his once-reliable home run tallies have dried up with just one dinger this year. While his demotion represents a cautionary tale of prematurely propping up prospects, I don’t believe his time in pinstripes is officially over. Perhaps his stint facing minor league pitchers and a move to second base could be just what the doctor ordered. After all, that second base position could be open if the Yankees don’t bring back Jazz Chisholm Jr.. Given his disappointing season, there’s a solid likelihood he’s out the door in free agency.
For now, Lombard Jr. has stolen the headlines, and for good reason. He could very well be the spark the Yankees need for the postseason. But again, it’s only been four games. He is bound to cool off at the plate. He is bound to make errors here and there. It’s important not to get too high or get too low on him, as cliché as that sounds. I’m certain Lombard Jr. is keeping that even-keeled mindset, as well.
Are the Mets… good?
I’m well aware that I just said that Yankees fans should not overreact to an impressive first few games in the majors for Lombard Jr.. But allow me to be a bit hypocritical for just this section and overreact to how the Mets have performed over the past week.
Since the trade deadline, the Mets have actually looked like a competent team. A sweep of the Guardians plus taking two out of the three in Pittsburgh equals a 5-1 record in August. They’ve scored 42 runs during that span with their seven runs per game since the best in the National League. And oh by the way, they did so without the services of Juan Soto.
Do I dare pose the question that a miraculous run to the postseason is still possible? It’s not entirely unheard of. Just look at what’s happening in Boston. A Red Sox team that seemed dead and buried in the water in June has catapulted themselves into a wild card spot by winning an absurd 32 of their last 39 games, though they seemed to have cooled off just a tad with back-to-back losses to the lowly Athletics. Point being, if the Red Sox can go on an absolute tear, why can’t the Mets?
This is where we come back down to earth. They’re still 15 games under .500. They’re still 11 games out of a Wild Card spot. FanGraphs gives them a 0.1% chance of making the playoffs, while Baseball Reference is a tad harsher by putting them at less than 0.1%. Miracles have happened before with this organization, but it would take a meltdown of epic proportions from the many teams above them to even have a shot at playing in October. Technically not impossible, but still highly unlikely even with the week they just enjoyed.
That doesn’t mean you should completely tune them out for the rest of the season, though. There are quite a few great success stories that can be told from some unknown talent. In fact, one of them has already emerged.
By now, you’ve probably seen Jefry Yan’s exuberant strikeout celebration. It’s not like the 29-year-old lefty reliever does this when he strikes out a batter to end the inning. He apparently does this after every K he racks up. That has naturally garnered plenty of hate from fans and talking heads alike, saying it’s too over-the-top and that he’s acting like he won the World Series. But in a sense, reaching the majors in the first does feel like a World Series-like accomplishment.
Yan has had quite the odyssey in his professional baseball career. He was signed by the Angels in 2013 as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic and pitched for the Dominican Summer League Angels in 2014 and 2015. The following year, he underwent the dreaded Tommy John surgery. He spent the next four years working full-time as a roofer. But affiliated baseball came calling back in 2021 when he signed a minor league contract with the Marlins. Then in 2024, he took his talents to Japan to play for the Saitama Seibu Lions. He returned to the minors last year with the Rockies, was released on July 30, and signed by the Mets the next day. After over a decade of ups and downs, he finally made his major league debut last week.
So with that in mind, I think he has every right to celebrate however he pleases.
Yan wasn’t the only debutant this past week for the Mets. In yesterday’s win over the Pirates, Jack Weisenburger tossed two scoreless innings in relief while a cohort of his family and friends watched from the stands. The 28-year-old right-hander has also been a journeyman since being drafted by the Athletics in 2019. He was with the organization until 2024 and spent last year playing independent ball in the Atlantic League for the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars. He started this season playing pitching in the Mexican Baseball League before inking a minor league deal with the Mets.
Hopefully there are more inspiring stories like Yan’s and Weisenburger’s to come to keep those TVs and radios running.
Cornell football earns some preseason respect
It’s crazy to think that college football is starting up later this month with FCS action kicking things off on August 27. As per usual, we unfortunately have to wait a few more weeks after that until the Ivy League gets going, with Cornell’s season opener taking place on September 19 at Colgate. That means there’s plenty of time to preview the season, and it’s the right time to do so with the release of the preseason poll last Monday.
It was no shock to see Yale take top spot with 15 of the 16 first-place votes going the Bulldogs’ way, even with a new head coach. It’s very much well-earned after upsetting Youngstown State in the NCAA tournament last year and only lost to the eventual national champions Montana State by eight points in the second round. Also unsurprising was Harvard in second place, as they too made the tourney last time out.
Dartmouth and Penn take up third and fourth place, respectively. And coming in fifth place? Cornell. Well, technically tied for fifth place with Princeton. Brown and Columbia take up the final two spots.
It was encouraging to see the Big Red garner some more respect. In the first two seasons of the Dan Swanstrom, Cornell was picked to finish in seventh place. Both times, they surpassed those projections by finishing in fifth place with a 4-6 overall record and a 3-4 mark in Ancient Eight play. The bar being raised entering this season is a testament to all the work that Swanstrom and his staff have put into turning the program around.
Who’s to say they can’t exceed expectations once again and finish even higher? There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about doing so.
On offense, Garrett Bass-Sulpizio returns under center and will once again showcase his dual-threat ability. He’s boosted by a litany of running backs, including last year’s top rusher Jordan Triplett as well as John McAuliffe and Ricardo Lagares Jr., who both surpassed 100 yards on the ground.
Bass-Sulpizio will also have plenty of weapons in the receiving game. His new target will be Samuel Musungu, who missed all of last season due to injury. There are great expectations for the senior to replicate his breakout campaign in 2024 where he led the Ivy League with 83 receptions and 10 touchdowns and was second with 960 receiving yards. He was named the 2026 Ivy League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and was selected to the Phil Steele FCS Preseason All-America Team as a third-team wide receiver.
There’s also the ever-reliable Ryder Kurtz. The senior is also a FCS Preseason All-American as a first-team tight end. He’s posted pretty similar numbers over the past two seasons. In 2024, he made 36 receptions for 441 yards and four touchdowns. Last year, he made 44 receptions for 523 yards and another four touchdowns.
As for the defense, it has been the weaker of the two sides of the ball. That unit did show improvements last year, going from 31.8 points per game allowed in 2024 down to 26 points per game. But with former Ithaca College head coach Mike Toerper coming in as the defensive coordinator, the defense is sure to take even greater strides this fall. Anyone who’s watched Bombers football the past few seasons know how stingy their defense was under Toerper, and it will be exciting to see if what worked for him at the Division III level can translate to Division I FCS football.
If you want to hear more about the team this year, I suggest tuning into Ivy League Media Day later today, which will be streaming live on the Ivy League’s X/Twitter account. Cornell will be on from 11:50 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. with Swanstrom, Bass-Sulpizio and Kurtz set to speak.
Other things that caught my eye:
- More preseason college rankings are being released, including for Division III men’s soccer. SUNY Cortland makes the cut at the #11 spot in the United Soccer Coaches poll. The Red Dragons are coming off a fantastic 2025 campaign where they went 14-1-6, won the SUNYAC regular season title, and made it all the way to the third round (or “Sweet 16”) of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Augsburg University on penalty kicks. Cortland opens up the season on September 1 when they host Rochester.
- It had been quite some time since I attended a minor league baseball game, so I felt this past weekend was the right time to head down to Binghamton to get the Rumble Ponies experience. I say that because the Hartford Yard Goats—who play 10 minutes from where I grew up—came to town. I’ve had the pleasure of calling a couple of high school baseball games from Mirabito Stadium, and it was just as great a ballpark as I remember. The on-field product was entertaining, as well. A back-and-forth contest ended in the Rumble Ponies’ favor 6-4, and it was cool to see some future players in Queens, including top prospect Jefferson Rojas. Binghamton ended up winning all six games in the series, which is almost unheard of. The only catch? It was Taylor Swift jersey giveaway night, so I was sadly subjected to plenty of her banal music throughout the game. Woof.
- One of the big themes from this column is about overreactions. But those don’t hold a candle to what was said during the NFL Hall of Fame Game between the Panthers and Cardinals. That’s what happens when Americans are deprived of any football for months on end, I suppose. There are the obvious ones about Carson Beck challenging for Arizona’s QB spot despite going up against third-stringers at best. There are also those that said that game was more exciting than the Super Bowl. On the surface, it sounds insane. Howev I can somewhat understand from an actual game perspective since it came right down to the wire and ended with a Haynes King walk-off touchdown. Oh no, I might have to change the title of this column to Ryan’s Overreaction Monday Musings one the NFL season kicks off…
