Report: Yankees cut former 3rd-round draft pick for allegedly stealing teammates' equipment

A now-former New York Yankees prospect allegedly had some issues with steals, and we are not talking about baserunning.

Jake Sanford, the Yankees’ third-round pick in the 2019 MLB draft, was cut by the team last week over allegations that he repeatedly “hounded” teammates for equipment such as bats and gloves to sell online, and occasionally going as far as grabbing it from their lockers, according to NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty.

Simply put, Sanford’s teammates were not happy with him:

“He was scamming other players,” the person said.

There are also reportedly allegations on social media that the 24-year-old Sanford, who signed out of the draft for $597,500, victimized fans as well. While allegedly selling the equipment he procured legally or illegally, fans have accused him of taking money in advance and never delivering the equipment.

According to his Minor League Baseball page, the Yankees officially released Sanford on May 12. He had previously been demoted from High-A Tampa to the organization’s rookie-level FCL team. He has reportedly since signed with the Ottawa Titans of the independent Frontier League.

Drafted after a standout season at Western Kentucky, Sanford hit .267/.332/.446 across two seasons ranging from Low-A to High-A, with the 2020 season lost to the pandemic. He was never considered one of the Yankees’ top prospects, but he did rank as high as their No. 24 prospect with MLB Pipeline entering last season, with encouraging coverage from Kuty himself later in the year.

And now he’s out of affiliated ball, and any team interested in signing him is probably going to want to do its homework.

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