RF- Mitchell Sanford
Last is New Orleans transfer Mitchell Sanford. Sanford's first year playing college baseball was way back in 2020, and Ole Miss will now be his 4th school. However, he has an SEC pedigree, having played his first two years at LSU, which shows he has the raw talent to compete at this level. His stats at LSU also weren’t terrible for a developing player. In 2021, he hit .268 and had an OPS of .691. After that season, he would leave the Tigers and transfer to the University of Texas-Arlington. However, he would only play in 4 games the following season due to injury and transferred to New Orleans for the 2023 season.
The last two seasons saw Sanford blossom into an elite player, albeit at a lower level of competition. In 2024, he slashed .381/.460/.708 and a 1.168 OPS. Sanford tallied 15 home runs, swiped 18 bags, and was named all-conference first team. He was also an all-conference defensive team, truly a five-tool player. Now that he is arriving for his final season of college in Oxford, I expect his numbers to decline due to the level of competition. Still, I expect Sanford to be a significant and solid contributor for the Rebels.
Campbell Smithwick
I broke down Smithwick in the Catcher article, so I will keep this short. Smithwick is competing to be the starting catcher for this team, but as seen last season, there are defensive concerns. If Fawley or Reuter win the job, Bianco will look to get Smithwick's bat in the lineup elsewhere. Personally, I think that it would most likely come via the DH position, especially if all three of these guys are playing well.
However, Smithwick does have positional versatility that the staff believes. We saw him appear in a few games on the right field last year; however, they weren’t great defensively. He also doesn’t appear to have played in the outfield, worked on it over the summer, or much in fall ball. However, if Moerman or Sanford aren’t cutting it at the plate, then it might be necessary to take a hit defensively to get Smithwick in the lineup if it is not at catcher.