It was a Friday morning in December, just a few days after the Yankees had created a seismic rattle at the Winter Meetings with trades for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, and Brian Cashman was contemplating the sticker shock.

It had not been easy to part with eight players, including seven pitchers, yet the veteran general manager said he would bank trust in the club’s ability to collect and fine-tune more depth.

“I think our pitching department, our player development department, they do a great job,” Cashman said that day. “We have really good people who do an amazing job of onboarding talent, and the player development system that Kevin Reese runs with his various coaching staffs. They do an exceptional job; they’re the most important key to all of that.”

That confidence is partially what convinced managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner to green-light the moves for Soto and Verdugo, believing that depth could be replenished in a relatively short period of time.

It is a strategy that has been apparent so far in the MLB Draft, where the Yankees have used eight of their first 10 picks on pitching.

• Yankees draft Alabama righty Hess with No. 26 pick

After calling on University of Alabama right-hander Ben Hess in the first round (26^th overall) and Vanderbilt University right-hander Bryce Cunningham in the second round (53^rd overall), the Yanks continued to turn the Draft into their own personal arms race on Day 2, rattling off five straight pitching picks.

The third round brought LSU right-hander Thatcher Hurd, a big-bodied (6-foot-4, 230-pound) fireballer whose raw fastball/slider combination looks more impressive than his stats indicate. Hurd was projected as a possible first-round pick before control and command issues sunk those chances.

Hurd said that he’d tinkered with his delivery too much during the season, and the Yankees believe that those issues can be fixed with access to their coaches and facilities in Tampa, Fla. Hurd was 3-4 with a 6.55 ERA in 18 games (nine starts) for LSU, allowing 53 hits and 24 walks in 44 innings.

“The regular season definitely didn’t go the way I was hoping or planned, but I’ve put in a lot of work on my delivery and feeling things sync up,” Hurd said on ESPN after pitching well against North Carolina in a regional elimination game.

For four more rounds, the Yankees targeted college pitchers -- Miami right-hander Gage Ziehl in the fourth round (119^th overall), Vanderbilt right-hander Greysen Carter in the fifth round (152^nd overall), LSU left-hander Griffin Herring in the sixth round (181^st overall) and Virginia Tech right-hander Wyatt Parliament in the seventh round (211^th overall).

It is a group with interesting, high-upside choices. Ziehl was a starting pitcher at Miami but could project better as a tough setup reliever, while Carter has yet to harness the control of his high-velocity arsenal, having touched 103 mph at Vanderbilt.

“Throwing my fastball by people is my biggest strength,” Carter told Baseball Prospect Journal.

Herring boasts a sweeping mid-80s slider as a money pitch that eats up lefties and righties, while Parliament showcases a fastball/slider combo that generated a 9.9 K/9 ratio in college.

The Yankees finally chose a position player in the eighth round, tabbing Grand Canyon University outfielder Tyler Wilson, then went back to the pitching well for Auburn left-hander Tanner Bauman in the ninth round.

Day 2 wrapped for the Yankees with the 10^th round selection of William & Mary outfielder Joe Delossantos. The MLB Draft concludes on Tuesday with Rounds 11-20, beginning at 2 p.m. ET.