This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch’s Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG -- Damon Oppenheimer took an all-too-brief break from his preparation for the upcoming MLB Draft this week, with the Yankees’ road series against the Rays drawing the club’s vice president of domestic amateur scouting to Tropicana Field.

Pleasantries were exchanged with players such as Aaron Judge, Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells and Ben Rice, each of whom highlight pinstriped Drafts of the past.

Then it was back to the grounds of the club’s player development complex in Tampa, Fla., where Oppenheimer and a bevy of scouts, regional cross-checkers and analysts are clocking 18-hour days preparing to bring in another generation of talent.

The MLB Draft begins on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, with the Yankees’ first pick coming at No. 26 overall.

“I think it’s a solid Draft,” Oppenheimer said. “There’s a little bit of talent in just about every avenue; it’s not just loaded in one spot. We’re going to try to take the best available player, whether it’s pitcher, position player, college, high school. In baseball, you’re trying to get the best talent.”

Day 1 of the 2024 Draft will be broadcast live from Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday, with a pregame show at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network and ESPN (as well as MLB.TV, MLB.com and in the MLB App) and the Draft at 7 p.m. ET. Every pick on Day 2 (Monday) and Day 3 (Tuesday) can be seen starting at 2 p.m. ET both days on MLB.TV, MLB.com and in the MLB App.

Experts believe that college prospects will be front and center in coming off the board first. The Yankees’ allotted bonus pool is $8,134,500, with a first-round pick value of $3,332,900 (the Yanks’ first selection dropped 10 spots as a penalty for exceeding the competitive-balance tax threshold by more than $40 million).

“Like most Drafts, I would say there’s your fair share of hitters that are going to go off early, and then you’re going to get your depth of pitchers,” Oppenheimer said. “I’m not sure quite where that will start, but I think there’s some quality pitchers to be had up at the top.”

After No. 26, the Yanks own the No. 53 selection in the second round (pick value of $1,721,200), No. 89 in the third round ($838,900), and No. 119 in the fourth round ($606,700). After seeing so many Draft classes come and go, Oppenheimer’s take for fans distills down to this:

“Don’t look at just the first round; look at the entirety of what a team picks and the depth you’re going to get," he said. "I don’t think a Draft in baseball needs to be judged within a year or two years. I think it needs to take time for it to marinate, and to see what you get further down.”

That said, Oppenheimer added that the Yankees would be thrilled to land another player like infielder George Lombard Jr., their first-round selection (26th overall) in last year’s Draft. Currently playing with Single-A Tampa, the 19-year-old Lombard is rated as the Yankees’ No. 6 prospect by MLB Pipeline.

• The top Yanks Draft pick from every season

“He showed himself well in Spring Training and he’s picking it up now,” Oppenheimer said. “He’s been great defensively, and now his bat is really starting to play as the season goes on. He’s maturing at a pretty tough level for a high school kid to just come out and play, so that one has been especially exciting.”