Yankees Cut Prospect for Stealing and Selling Equipment Online

Most of the time, when you hear about a Major League Baseball franchise cutting one of their prospects, it's for performance-related reasons. Not this time.

Jake Sanford, a 2019 third-round pick for the Yankees, has been axed over allegations that he was stealing baseball equipment from his teammates to sell online. Reports say that he continuously badgered fellow players for things like bats and gloves, and would apparently go so far as hijacking these items from lockers.

Compounding the already egregious allegations is that some fans who tried to purchase equipment from Sanford have accused him of not delivering on the equipment, despite taking advanced payment for it. So not only is Sanford looking like a thief, he's looking like a fraudster as well.

The 24-year-old Sanford was officially released by the Yankees on May 12th. At the time of his release, he was playing for the organization's rookie level FCL team, having been demoted from High-A ball. He has since inked with the Ottawa Titans of the Independent Frontier League, meaning he's currently out of MLB-affiliated baseball -- at least for now.

You'd expect to hear this kind of story about a 17-year-old assistant manager at Dick's Sporting Goods, not a drafted prospect for the most decorated team in baseball history. You'd have to wonder why a promising prospect would squander his Big League hopes just to make a few extra dollars on the side.

For what it's worth, Sanford signed out of the draft for $597,500.