Yankees plundered in Rule 5 Draft, lose 3 arms in major league phase
NASHVILLE — With rumors swirling and free agents signing, the Rule 5 Draft wasn’t exactly the most notable happening at the Winter Meetings on Wednesday. However, the event proved significant for the Yankees, who lost three right-handed pitching prospects in the draft’s major league phase.
The very first two picks saw Mitch Spence go to the Athletics and Matt Sauer go to the Royals. The Rangers then selected Carson Coleman. Only Sauer was considered a top prospect in the Yankees’ system, ranking 25th on MLB.com.
The Yankees did not select any players in the major league phase.
Spencer, 25, spent all of 2023 at Triple-A, recording a 4.47 ERA over 29 starts. Pitching coach Matt Blake had referred to him as someone who could provide starting depth for the Yankees, but they left him unprotected.
Sauer, 24, mostly pitched at Double-A this past season, where he tallied a 3.42 ERA over 14 games and 13 starts. He struck out a total of 93 batters over 74 innings at three different levels.
Coleman, 25, missed the 2023 season due to elbow surgery.
The Yankees lost multiple players in the minor league phase of the draft as well: the Angels took INF Eric Wagaman (first round), Boston selected C Mickey Gasper (first round), Tampa Bay selected RHP Michael Gómez (first round) and Pittsburgh selected INF Marcos Cabrera (third round).
While the Yankees were not active in the major league phase, they did add in the Triple-A phase, selecting RHP Gabriel Barbosa in the first round from Colorado and RHP Kervin Castro in the second round from Houston.
Unrelated to the Rule 5 Draft, the Yankees also signed RHP Dennis Santana to a minor league deal, per Jessica Kleinschmidt.
