North Shore Nine

Welcome to the weekly Scouting Prospects; The New Additions series. Each week we will take a look at a different one of the newly added Pirates Top 30 prospects. These prospects will all be newly added as they were just drafted in the recent MLB Amateur draft. The format of these articles will highlight and discuss the following.

• Scouting Score
• Performance
• Expectations
• Projected Debut
  
  When it comes to scouting grades, the scale used is 20-80. So, a 20-30 grade would be considered well below average. A 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average (Also called Plus) and 70-80 is well above average (or Plus Plus). For prospects the overall grade is where scouts expect the player to perform once in the majors. For example, a 65 grade would be an All-Star caliber standout player, whereas a 50 would be an everyday player and a 40 would be a bench player.

Wyatt Sanford:

The Pirates took Sanford with their 2nd round pick in the 2024 amateur draft. Sanford is an 18-year-old shortstop out of Independence High School in Frisco Texas. He had committed to play for Texas A&M, but took an over-slot bonus from Pittsburgh to join the organization this year. He was ranked by Pipeline as the Pirates 10th best prospect, and 5th best middle infielder behind, Konnor Griffin, Termarr Johnson, Nick Yorke and Mitch Jebb.

Scouts have rated Sanford as having an average hit tool with below average power. However, he is rated as have plus speed and fielding, with a near plus arm and has the current potential to be an everyday MLB player. Sanford was rated as the best defensive shortstop out of the high school players in this draft class. There has been no question he will be able to stay at SS, with arm strength and range make him a near natural at the position. However, the same has not been said about his hitting as he has at best mixed reviews there. Some scouts say he has a very good ability to hit the ball to the gaps, though he struggled with contact this past season. Much like many recent Pirates prospect the blend of speed with power is a focus here, as he could be a 15-15 guy once he makes the majors.

The Pirates certainly have a type of late. Good defensive players with light contact and a power speed combination. While it would be exciting to think of a team were every can hit 15 home runs and steal 15 bases, or more, each year the lack of contact most in the organization are equipped with is an issue. Sanford is an exciting player, but the fact that many think he will need to rework his batting stance with the Pirates should scare most. He will be 19 this offseason and should get a full year in the FLC next spring/summer. If all goes well, he could end up debuting around the same time as Konnor Griffin, meaning 4-5 years, give or take. Hopefully all goes well with his development and the batting stance can be fixed and not broken, if it can, then the next waive or Pirates bats might be some of the more exciting in a while.