Pirates Prospect Wyatt Sanford Took the Doubt Personally

All right.

All right.

All right.

Welcome to the North Shore Nine podcast presented by FanDuel.

I'm Jim.

Joining me today from the Arizona Fall League is Pirates' twenty twenty four second round pick Wyatt Sanford.

Wyatt, appreciate you hopping on tonight.

Of course.

Thank you for having me.

So first thing I wanted to talk about here, I wanted to actually congratulate you, Wyatt, on your I don't know.

I don't know if you're familiar with this guy.

Look at that.

That's awesome.

That was funny.

I actually got, I actually had my first question about, him the other day.

I was doing an interview.

during our media day and it's fu i was i'm super shocked that nobody else besides you and the other guy have asked me about it but it's great like it's crazy i was telling him i'll get tagged

in a lot of his stuff and so like do you get tagged in his instagram all the time all the time like i have to remove it from my profile because it's not me but like it helps me keep up with him and i

mean he's been He's been killing it.

I've seen him go on stretches where he'll win six in a row, and I know he's an Olympian.

It's just crazy how there's two professional athletes with the same name.

It's insane.

Like I said, I get tagged in his stuff all the time.

i've been i've been able to keep up with him and he's doing a great job and so hopefully he keeps doing what he's doing and i keep doing what i'm doing and who knows maybe we'll meet one day but that'd be that'd be pretty cool yeah i was gonna ask you if you've ever met before

that would be pretty neat but how i don't know about your boxing ability but how long are you last thing with the other wyatt sanford how long is that match going probably one hit i'm done no zero fighting experience

for me So safe to say that he's got me on that.

shoot, I think I'd just be I'd be nervous just to touch gloves with him.

he fights for a living.

I've never fought in my life.

So that's brutal.

That'd be that'd be a tough way to go out.

All right, so let's shift gears a bit.

Also read that this past offseason, obviously a lot has changed with you over the last year or so, but apparently the secret to becoming one of the better prospects in the Pirates system was just having your mom feed you

Wagyu and Alfredo.

Is that right?

Dude, shout out Miss Sanford.

She does an incredible job.

How often were you eating this?

Oh, she makes it – I don't know how she does it.

She makes it like three times a week back home.

She's a grinder.

Every day I wake up and I'll go lift in the mornings, and that's her time to go shop, go grocery shopping.

And she was doing a bunch of research because last year, – Just wasn't the biggest guy, wasn't the strongest guy, and she was doing a lot of research.

And I've always been more of a chicken guy over steak.

Like, I'll go to – obviously, if we go to, like, a nice steakhouse, I'll get a good steak.

But I was definitely always more of a chicken guy.

And she was just doing some research and said how – and it was just talking about how red meat's, really good, especially for athletes and guys who are looking to – add strength, add weight.

And so she took it super literal.

Me and her took it super literal, and we just hammered that out three, four times a week.

And, safe to say so far it's worked.

So, I'm just going to keep rolling with it this offseason.

Keep going.

Oh, man, my mom, she's the best, and she'll do absolutely anything for me.

And it's fun.

It's just so cool to see how – how dedicated she was to helping me out.

And there were definitely some days where, I didn't, wasn't really, starving for it.

Wasn't really hungry for it.

She would just practically shove it down my throat.

but yeah, shout out mom.

She's the best.

And we'll definitely get that going again this off season.

All right.

Now, can you cook or like, are you, are you fixing yourself up that stuff in Greensboro or?

So I haven't had the trait passed down onto me yet.

This offseason, I'm definitely going to have to get more in the kitchen with her to see how she does things.

But not too much yet.

I can cook some stuff on my own, just some basic stuff.

But once I learn that, it's over.

Yeah.

So we talked about your mom.

Your dad was drafted by the pirates twice.

That's pretty neat.

Then you get drafted by the pirates.

Are there, is, are there any other Sanford's out there that the pirates are going to draft or you're the last one for a bit?

unfortunately my brother, not a big baseball guy.

He's a, actually he's a very big NASCAR guy.

He really, he's really in the NASCAR.

he tried out the baseball thing and just wasn't for him.

And I think he also saw, I think he also saw how hard my dad was on me, as a kid.

And I think he wanted to maybe not follow my footsteps.

but yeah, he's, he's a very supportive, just a great brother, but yeah, not the biggest athlete.

The athlete bug didn't really bite him as hard as it bit me.

But who knows?

shoot, hopefully my future son, if I have a future son, maybe he'll follow in the footsteps and maybe become a buck too.

That'd be pretty cool.

There we go.

You mentioned your dad being hard on you.

Did you ever just get in a cage growing up or even now where you're just like, Dad, I don't need it today.

Just let me go out there and hit.

I will say there were – it was more so me driving it.

I was always the one dragging him off the couch to go hit.

Cause, his, he's got some good BP.

And so I was, I was always dragging him, to go hit, with me and my buddies.

that was something that we would do for fun, all throughout high school.

I was very fortunate to have some buddies who loved to hit.

And so it helps me out.

But, man, there were definitely a few times where I thought about quitting in that cage.

There were definitely some times where a lot of tears were shed.

shoot, sometimes I was even scared to step in the box to face him.

But, looking back, just the things that it did for me and the things that it taught me – It was all for the best, and it was all out of love.

But...

Every time I go back home, we'll just laugh about some of the stories that we had in the cage.

It's funny to look back on now.

I think we'll keep that going.

Hopefully no more tears for the rest of my career.

We'll definitely keep that going every offseason.

It's a cool thing that we share.

Not a lot of Not a lot of fathers can throw their son's BP, and also not a lot of fathers can say that they played professional baseball and had their son also drafted to play professional baseball.

So it's another cool thing we share, and I think it's just a good way for us to bond and spend time together.

Yeah.

so let's shift over to you know baseball in this year i went back and actually watched you know we were we were live during the twenty twenty four draft for the whole for the whole first day and i went back and watched

it and i was like what was my reaction to wyatt sanford getting drafted and my take was like all right great glove great speed can play shortstop Is he going to hit?

Like, can he hit?

That was the question, right?

And, looking back now, did any of that bother you when you were drafted?

Because, like, that was the scouting report.

It was like, great defense, great glove.

He's going to play shortstop.

Like, one of the best defensive shortstops coming out of high school.

It's like, but, he's got to hit, right?

So, like, did that bother you a little bit?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It definitely did.

Obviously, after getting drafted, you're getting tagged in a bunch of stuff and a bunch of tweets are getting sent out about you and all these articles and these other things.

Man, I think every single one of them said how the bat's light.

Power's not there.

Who knows if the bat's going to translate.

And so it was a...

I remember after we had a little celebration that night, and I remember after the celebration, that was the first time that night that I had time to myself.

And I remember just really having like a – just a sit-down conversation with myself, just – just wanted, I just wanted to prove all these people wrong.

I was it was, it was frustrating.

And I think that was also a big thing this past off season was because, last year it was my, it was my first professional year, getting a taste of it all and didn't,

didn't perform the way I wanted to.

it wasn't a horrible year, but obviously, me, I have high expectations of myself.

And so I wasn't too pleased with last year and all off season.

I just kept thinking back to draft night and about how, I was frustrated.

Like it was supposed to be, like one of the best days of my life.

And I went to bed frustrated at all these, all these random people that I've never met.

And like, why is this Jim guy from North Shore Nine say, I can't, but looking back, I totally get it.

I was, I was a buck eighty and just didn't really face anything in high school.

So obviously people are going to have questions, but it's just, it's definitely been a big motivating factor, so far in my career and all off season, me and my dad would just

talk about it a lot.

It really just drive me to always just keep working.

Every night, if there was a night where I didn't want to go ahead or didn't want to lift, I just kept thinking back to that night and all the stuff that I saw.

It's been a big motivating factor so far.

Safe to say, I'm not going to take that chip off my shoulder yet.

Probably won't for the rest of my career.

It's definitely been good in a way.

and yeah, we're just going to keep rolling with that chip on the shoulder.

There we go.

Well, you're welcome.

Yeah.

So I actually remember, you had a great start to the year, and it was surprising.

It was like he's crushing the ball.

Exit velocities are up, right?

Baseball America just released an article.

I think your exit velos went up the fourth highest in all of minor league baseball this year.

But I was talking with Eric Longenhagen, like the main prospects guy at FanGraphs, And we were talking to him in May, and he asked me a question.

He was like, do you know what the hell is going on with Wyatt Sanford?

And I was like, I don't know.

So I guess I'm going to ask you, what the hell happened?

What was it?

Man, I don't think I even know still to this day.

I saw it in the offseason hitting.

but couldn't really tell.

And then I remember like the first day of spring training that we hit on the field, like balls were leaving the yard and that's always been a struggle for me in years past and balls were just

flying out both fields.

And I remember just walking back to the, or walking back to our locker room after the day was over.

just being like, man, is this really who I am now?

And it kept continuing, it kept continuing.

And then second game of the year, I hit a bomb dead center at.

And it was just such an emphatic feeling and such a great feeling to be able to just park a ball.

It was the first time in my career that I've ever parked a ball.

Hit a baseball super far and super hard.

It was just a lot of excitement that came from that.

I will say it was very fun to go out and play every day just knowing that I had an extra tool in the toolbox.

I feel like now I can truly say...

to myself that I'm a complete baseball player because that was always the thing that was lacking.

And so it just made it fun to come to work every day.

It made it fun to know that I can leave the ballpark at any time at any part of the field.

But man, to this day, Don't know what changed.

Don't know what happened.

Hit it hard in the offseason.

I guess that was it.

But, man, I just was – I don't think anyone, including me, was really expecting that jump.

Yeah, it's that Wagyu and Alfredo.

I'm telling you.

Yeah.

I'm telling you.

Now, I remember I saw you in Bowling Green towards the end of the year.

And, yeah, you turned on one, lined one right over the fence in right field.

you got out of there in a hurry.

And I was like, all right, there we go.

It's a good feeling.

It's a great feeling.

So, all right.

Well, you just finished up the year.

You were hurt a little bit, too.

Didn't get to play the entire season, but it was most games you played professionally.

First time you moved out of Florida, too.

So, longer road trips, so they tell you, hey, season's over.

Go play more baseball in the desert.

how's your body feeling right now?

Is everything good?

Yeah, it feels great.

I think, two months off, it was almost like a mini offseason.

So that was another time period for me to just, continue eating, continue lifting.

And it just made me more hungry, I feel like.

I was having a great year.

And then...

For something like that to happen in the middle of a great year was really just frustrating.

It gave me a lot of time to self-reflect and just made me realize truly how much I want to go out there and just be the best version of Wyatt Sanford every day.

It just made me hungrier and hungrier every day that I was rehabbing in Florida.

Like, man, this sucks.

I want to get out of here.

I want to go back to Greensboro and hit some more homers.

But, yeah, it truly just made me hungrier.

And I can say that my parents also helped me with that.

They just really helped me.

turn it from a negative to a positive and just it made me just a lot of self-reflection time.

And I feel like it truly just helped me realize how valuable it is to be on the field.

I think that's the best tool out of all the tools.

tool staying on the field is the best one and it just when i came back man i was just super hungry and super excited to just be back out there playing the game i love and so

that was that was definitely the biggest thing for me was just realizing how much i love being out there and how much just how much i realize that i'm blessed to play this game every day yeah

You obviously have a great support system.

Having your dad, play professionally too has got to be just incredible, right?

Because you can pick his brain on a lot of stuff.

What's something, though, about pro baseball that like no one could have prepared you for?

Definitely how laid back it is.

Even from my dad's time, I remember the day after I signed, getting on a flight.

to Bradenton, Florida, and he was just telling me all these stories about them running three miles a day back in their spring training and how it's like a boot camp.

And so I remember just being super nervous on this flight, being like, man, what am I walking into?

And just even now, like just how – how much of it is just...

It's relied on you.

And it's truly just you're your own...

Coach, at the end of the day, you have these hitting coaches and these other coaches who are going to help you, but at the end of the day, it's up to you to wake up every day and do your stuff, do your lifts,

take extra reps off the machines, take extra reps in the infield.

It's really up to you at the end of the day.

That was what I had to learn really quick was...

coming from a dad who's always pushed me.

and he's always, he was always there helping me, helping me keep going.

and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, he's not there now it's on me.

And, yeah, that was definitely the, that was definitely the fastest thing I had to learn was just, it's on you at the end of the day.

These people are going to help you out and they're going to help you when you ask for it.

But it's up to you to get to where you want to get to and just be mentally strong at the end of the day and wake up and choose to work hard.

Love it.

We're going to end this with some rapid fire questions.

We're asking everybody the exact same questions in Arizona.

So think of all your teammates that are there.

And we'll start off with who's the funniest person playing with you in Arizona.

Oh, Mike Walsh.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Walsh, you're the second one to say that.

Yes.

Also, you've got a six-hour road trip, which I know that you're not going to have in Arizona, but you've got a six-hour road trip.

Which teammate are you absolutely refusing to sit by?

Bryan Mena.

Why is that?

Very loud.

okay loves playing his music over the speaker too yeah six hour bus ride i'm sleeping i don't need that which teammate would you trust least with your credit card Easton Carmichael

okay all right biggest trash talker Easton Carmichael okay if you were stranded somewhere in the desert you'd have to call one person to

come save you who's the one person Brandon Cain for sure okay and which player are you absolutely refusing to control the aux in the clubhouse Zander. Zander Mueth. It happened

Zander said himself, by the way.

Did he really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That ain't happening.

Give it to me.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, Hey, that's all I got for you, Wyatt.

I appreciate you coming on here and said, we'll be, we'll be down there in a couple of weeks.

Absolutely.

Love spending time down there in the fall league.

So looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the guys continue to ball out.

Awesome.

Yeah.

I can't wait to see you down here.

Yeah.

All right.

Thanks.

All right.

Thank you.

See you.