Selected by the New York Yankees in the third round (No. 105 overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Western Kentucky... signed with the Yankees on June 6, 2019 and received a $597,000 signing bonus... appeared in 161 games from 2019-2021 in the Yankees' system with Staten Island, Tampa and Hudson Valley, hitting .267 with 23 homers and 88 RBIs in 621 at-bats... was released by the Yankees in May 2022... reportedly signed with the Ottawa Titans of the Frontier League shortly after release.
Played one season at Western Kentucky, hitting .398 with 22 homers, 66 RBIs and 20 doubles in 56 games across 221 at-bats, earning him a variety of honors including a spot on the Golden Spikes Award watch list and the title of Conference-USA Player of the Year... he became the first Triple Crown winner in C-USA history... led Western Kentucky in every offensive category, including hits (88), runs (65) and walks (33)... finished the 2019 season ranked fifth in program history for single-season home runs while ranking ninth in both runs and RBI
Notable awards and achievements while at Western Kentucky:
2019 C-USA Regular-Season Triple Crown Winner (First in league history)
2018-19 Michael L. Slive Conference USA Male Athlete of the Year
2019 TOPSYs John O. Oldham Male Student-Athlete of the Year
2019 Conference USA Player and Newcomer of the Year
2019 All-Conference USA First Team
2019 Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist
2019 American Baseball Coaches Association First Team All-American
2019 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association First Team All-American
2019 Perfect Game/Rawlings First Team All-American
2019 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper First Team All-American
2019 www.D1Baseball.com First Team All-American
2019 Baseball America Second Team All-American
2019 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast All-American
2019 National Baseball Coaches Association All-Region First Team
2019 Perfect Game/Rawlings First Team Midseason All-American
2019 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List
2019 TOPSYs Best Male Record-Breaking Performance
Prior to Western Kentucky, Sanford attended McCook Community College in Nebraska, where he was named back-to-back First Team All-Region IX, earned All-Nebraska College Baseball honors among two-year college players and slashed .356/.424/.671 in 108 games over the course of two seasons with the Indians... transferred to WKU on 4/12/18
Attended Auburn Drive High School where he was a two-sport athlete that led to a scholarship offer to play volleyball at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia... was named All-Region in baseball and volleyball from 2013-16 and earned the school’s Athlete of the Year award from 2014-16... hit .450 as a senior... was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada to Karina, a realtor, and Tim, who works with Canada Border Services... majored in Sport Management at WKU
Rookie Affiliate
