Which 4 prospects did Yankees lose in Rule 5 Draft?

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The Yankees' farm system has taken a small, but mostly expected, hit.

The team lost four prospects to the major-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft at the 2017 MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort on Thursday morning.

As general manager Brian Cashman predicted Wednesday, they didn't pick any players.

They lost righties Anyelo Gomez (Braves) and Jose Mesa (Orioles), lefty Nestor Cortes (Orioles) and first baseman Mike Ford (Mariners).

Winter Meetings takeaways

Some within the Yankees organization see Cortes, a starting pitcher, as a potential Vidal Nuno-type -- a soft-tossing lefty who works the strike zone and pitches to weak contact.

Mesa (10.8 K/9) and Gomez (11.1 K/9) each are relievers who rack up strikeouts but have had walk issues.

Ford, a Princeton graduate and N.J. native, hit .266 with seven homers and 21 RBI in 25 games at Triple-A last year. He walked 94 times and had just 72 strikeouts.

Those players must remain on their respective teams' 25-man rosters all year or else they must be offered back to the Yankees.

In the Triple-A phase, they lose righty Yancarlos Baez (Twis) and catcher Sharif Othman (Marlins).

The Yankees picked outfielder Junior Soto (Indians) in the Triple-A phase.

Here's what the Yankees said about Soto:

Soto, 20, hit .172 (30-for-174) with 19R, 14 doubles, 9HR and 17RBI in 52 games with Single-A Lake County in 2017. Over four minor league seasons (2014-17), he has batted .217 (127-for-585) with 83R, 39 doubles, 13HR and 58RBI in 168 games. The right-handed hitter is a native of Bani, D.R. and was originally signed by the Cleveland Indians as a non-drafted free agent on July 2, 2013.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.

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