top 100 ranking <\/a>ahead of the draft. The Athletic\u2019s lead draft analyst Keith Law said Jacob has some of the best pure tools in this draft class, looking like a long-term shortstop \u2014 though he has struggled to hit higher velocity when he\u2019s seen it.<\/p>\nJacob is very athletic, a trait that might stem from his multisport background. He played baseball and soccer through high school, and competed in football and gymnastics when he was younger.<\/p>\n
He won multiple state titles as a soccer player at South Florida\u2019s Gulliver Prep. The sport, Jacob said, was his \u201cfirst love.\u201d He credited his time playing soccer with improving his leadership skills, sharpening traits such as change of direction, awareness and strengthening him mentally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe break from strenuous summer (travel ball is helpful),\u201d Jacob said. \u201cA lot of times people are playing baseball all year round \u2014 spring, summer season, fall season. So three months of getting my mind to a different focus is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Sr.\u2019s wife, Judy, was a gymnast, so they put Jacob in the sport when he was young. He eventually stopped so he could focus on baseball and soccer, but the flexibility has stayed. Dad laughed as he pulled up recent videos of Jacob crawling in a back-bend and doing back- and front-flips \u2014 feats that would be difficult for anyone, much less a teenager who measures 6-foot-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foundation you get from gymnastics is just an elite way to teach body awareness,\u201d George Sr. said. \u201cAll these kids (playing baseball), they\u2019ll catch up with how to throw a ball, how to hit a ball. But when you learn to stop and start your body and avoid being tackled and stuff like that \u2014 it\u2019s just such a good foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Jacob Lombard\u2019s high school soccer teammates cheer him on as he back-flips. (Courtesy of the Lombard family)<\/p>\n
Much of Jacob\u2019s skill set obviously also comes from time spent around and watching the game. When Jacob was a toddler, his father took on roles with the Red Sox organization. Since then, George Sr. said he has prioritized balancing work and family life. If he was in Portland and Lowell, Mass., for eight days, he said, his family would be around him for four of those days.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest lessons George Sr. has imparted, Jacob said, is being curious. He\u2019s tried to take advantage of it while wandering big-league ballparks. When around their father\u2019s teams, George Jr. and Jacob have seen plenty to replicate \u2014 how players like Corey Seager and Justin Turner field, how Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson play, swings to imitate at home (both brothers bat right-handed).<\/p>\n
At home, Jacob watches all of George Jr.\u2019s games, the Tigers and whatever else he can get his hands on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a baseball rat,\u201d Jacob said. \u201cI\u2019ll throw on the Yankees game. I\u2019ll throw on the Dodgers. Any team that has a ton of talented players \u2014 I want to watch them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chapter of trailing George Sr. through major- and minor-league ballparks may be coming to a close. But now Jacob has a new dream \u2014 one he said he told many teams about during his meetings at the MLB Draft Combine.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently, it hit me that my brother and I have an opportunity to play on the same field at a high level,\u201d Jacob said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s big leagues, minor leagues \u2014 if you ask me, it\u2019s going to be the big leagues at one point or another. Eventually, we\u2019ll be on the same field. Maybe playing together, maybe playing against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still dream and go to sleep thinking about the time when I\u2019m hitting a home run and looking at my brother at short while I round second.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT, Mich. \u2014 When the Detroit Tigers visited Yankee Stadium just over a week ago, the trip was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67051,123,125,3822,124,3817,3821],"class_list":["post-337380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-marlins","tag-miami-news","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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