Players with ties to Hawai'i will be sitting tight the next couple of days for the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

The draft, a week later than usual, consists of 50 rounds spread over three days, a day longer than previous years.

Today's portion will cover the first three rounds with no players with ties here predicted to be selected. The first 32 picks will be broadcast on the MLB Network (Oceanic Time-Warner digital channel 208) starting at noon. The remaining rounds will resume on http://www.MLB.com/Live, according to the MLB Web site.

The draft resumes tomorrow at 6 a.m., Hawai'i time with rounds four through 30. Rounds 31 through 50 will be Thursday starting at 5:30 a.m. Tomorrow's and Thursday's rounds can be tracked on http://www.MLB.com/Live.

The University of Hawai'i might feel the most impact from this year's draft. Draft-eligible sophomore left-handed pitcher Sam Spangler and junior third baseman Vinnie Catricala are coming off strong seasons with the Rainbows.

Spangler, who red-shirted his true freshman season, made great strides from 2008, when he was 1-3 with a 6.75 earned run average. He struck out 17 and walked 29 in 21 1/3 innings. This season, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder went 5-3 with four saves and a 4.17 ERA. He had 48 strikeouts to 14 walks in 45 1/3 innings.

Catricala, a 6-3, 220-pound right-handed hitter, has been a starter since his freshman year. He was primarily a designated hitter as a freshman before starting at third his sophomore year. He saw a spike in nearly every offensive category. He hit .349 with a team-leading 51 runs. His .447 on-base percentage was the best among regulars. He also had career highs with 13 doubles, 13 home runs and 44 RBI. He was drafted in the 50th round by Cleveland out of his Sacramento, Calif., high school in 2006.

Both would be significant losses for UH. Hawai'i coach Mike Trapasso earlier considered switching Spangler to starter next season. Similar switches worked well for Steven Wright in 2006 and Jayson Kramer this past season. Wright had his best season as a full-time starter his junior season and parlayed the success into a second-round pick by Cleveland, the highest draft in Trapasso's eight-season tenure.

If Catricala is drafted and signed, his successor will be relatively new, being that he started every game this past season.

The Rainbows also might take a hit with their incoming JC pitching recruits: Left-hander Kirk Wetmore (Bellevue JC in Washington) and right-handers Randy Yard (Central Arizona) and Nick Struck (Mount Hood in Oregon). Wetmore, who attended Washington as a freshman before transferring to the JC, is the only one to show up in Baseball America Online's state-by-state report.

"Kirk is one of the most polished left-handers in the entire Pacific Northwest at any level: high school, community college, and four-year," Bellevue coach Mark Yoshino responded in an e-mail. "He has been tabbed by some professional scouts as the top left-hander in the area. He has the stuff to come right in and be an impact starter for UH next year."

Wetmore was 5-4 with a 3.35 ERA with 75 strikeouts to 24 walks in 53 1/3 innings.

Underclassmen with ties to Hawai'i who might get picked are NAIA Concordia's Cameron Bayne (Saint Louis '06) and Yavapai JC's Kirby Yates (Kaua'i '05), both right-handed pitchers. Each had been drafted out of high school but chose college.

College players who have completed their eligibility mentioned by Baseball America Online's state-by-state list include: UH catcher Landon Hernandez, drafted in the 50th round by Detroit last year, and Southern Utah infielder Keli'i Zablan (Saint Louis '05) and outfielder Nick Freitas (Kamehameha '05). Zablan and Freitas earned all-Summit League first-team honors this past season.

High school players mentioned as draft possibilities by Baseball America Online were 'Iolani outfielder Breland Almadova, Kamehameha infielder Pi'ikea Kitamura and Pearl City catcher Carlton Tanabe and third baseman Bryson Namba.