WKU Baseball: Jake Sanford Projects As Second-Day Draft Pick
Despite only being on the Hill for one season, Jake Sanford made a monster impact for the WKU baseball program. Not only did he lead an injury-riddled squad to their first Conference USA tournament appearance in school history but Sanford also shined individually.
The Junior College transfer from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia won the Conference USA player of the Year award slashing to a regular season line of .402/.488/.828 and leading Conference USA in all of the triple crown categories (HR’s [22], batting average [.402] & RBI’s [65]) to become the first ever Triple Crown winner in CUSA’s history.
With numbers like that, the formerly unknown prospect has skyrocketed onto several MLB teams radar heading into the MLB Draft, which begins Monday at 7 p.m. and runs through Wednesday.
For those not familiar with how baseball works, college players are draft eligible after their junior year. Most players with high draft stock (top 15 or so rounds) will choose to forgo their senior year to get started on the long arduous road of the Minor League Baseball system. The best prospects usually take 2–3 years of minor league development to make the majors while other prospects working their way up the latter for 4–6 years if they ever make it (very low probability).
Sanford’s monster season helped propel him into early round projections. MLB Pipeline has Sanford as the #107 Overall with the following write up.
At #107 Sanford is projected to be in the late third/early fourth round range. That would put him around where current ProTopper Anderson Miller was drafted in 2015.
Sanford is probably wise to strike while the iron is hot and start his professional career now. Should he leave, he’ll probably start the season in rookie ball and will have to work up six levels to make the major leagues.
Miller is on his fifth minor league season and has only made it to AA ball despite solid career numbers.
Should Sanford fall in that projected range he will become one of the highest draft picks in school history and will try to become WKU’s first major leaguer since Steve Stemle played for the Royals in 2006.
While third/fourth round picks aren’t surefire prospects, they usually hang around the game longer than later round prospects. Sanford made WKU baseball fun again and helped save coach John Pawlowski’s job. He’ll be remembered for a long time for his accolades during his one year on the Hill.
Be sure to follow the draft on MLB.com on Tuesday (probably the day Sanford will be taken). The draft does go 40 rounds but it doesn’t appear that WKU has any other surefire draft prospects (someone might take a late flier on injured senior first baseman Davis Sims, junior infielder Jack Wilson, junior catcher Matt Phipps or redshirt sophomore pitcher Bailey Sutton) to track.
Highest MLB Draft Picks In WKU History
1. Kes Carter — 2011: 1st Round (Sandwich Round), #56 Overall; Tampa Bay Rays. Topped out at AA in 2015
2. Wade Gaynor — 2009: 3rd Round, #89 Overall; Detroit Tigers. Topped out at AAA in 2014/2015
3. Anderson Miller — 2015: 3rd Round, #98 Overall; Kansas City Royals. Currently in AA
4. Paul Jackson — 1989: 4th Round, #106 Overall; Cincinnati Reds. Unknown
