The Major League Baseball first-year player draft hits the airwaves for the first time, but don't expect to see any players with ties to Hawai'i on the tube.

The 50-round draft runs tomorrow and Friday.

For the first time, the draft will be televised, albeit just the first round, on ESPN2, starting at 8 a.m. Hawai'i time. No one with ties to Hawai'i is projected to be among the first 30 picks.

"It's very, very lean," said one scout of prospects with ties to Hawai'i.

"The talent isn't as strong as years past," another scout said. "But there's still some players teams are interested in."

That appears to be the consensus among scouts here. They aren't identified throughout so that they don't give away their positions on the few prospects they might be interested in.

The first day runs to about 2:30 p.m. Hawai'i time. About five rounds are being anticipated to be completed. The remaining rounds will continue Friday, starting at 5:30 a.m. Hawai'i time.

According to MLB.com, each club will have up to five minutes to make their selection in the first round. That portion will take place at The Milk House at the Disney Wild World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The rest of the draft may be monitored on the Internet on MLB.com.

Three players with ties here took themselves out of the draft pool by signing early. University of Hawai'i first baseman Kris Sanchez and left-handed pitcher Mark Rodrigues took advantage of their fifth-year senior status to sign as free agents. Sanchez parlayed a big offensive year (.362, 10 homers, 66 RBIs) by signing with the Seattle Mariners. Rodrigues, drafted out of Kaua'i High in 2001 and out of Los Mendanos JC in 2002, signed with the Cleveland Indians.

Also, former 'Iolani School left-handed pitcher Ian Mopas signed with the Minnesota Twins as a "draft-and-follow." The Twins drafted him in the 26th round out of 'Iolani in 2005. Last year, they picked him again after his freshman season at Golden West JC. As a draft-and-follow, the Twins had "control" of signing Mopas until a week before this week's draft. He signed two Monday's ago.

Because of the new collective bargaining agreement, players from this year's draft must be signed by Aug. 15, or they go back into next year's draft pool. That effectively brought an end to the draft-and-follow, a process primarily affecting future and present junior college players, who are eligible for the draft after each of their two seasons.

In the draft-and-follow, teams will draft either a high school senior planning on attending a JC, or draft a freshman or a sophomore JC player and follow their progress for a season. If the teams like what they see, they try to sign the player before the next draft. But one scout said teams might do "summer follows," where teams will monitor the drafted players' progress in summer ball.

Baseball America Online gave Hawai'i's draft prospects a not-so-glowing rating. Among the Hawai'i players listed were junior outfielder Brandon Haislet and senior pitchers Ian Harrington and Tyler Davis, and senior third baseman Justin Frash.

The report also listed junior right-handed pitcher Lars Knepper of UH-Hilo.

Rainbows coach Mike Trapasso said about four or five clubs are interested in Haislet and that he is likely to get drafted. Haislet is always described as a player with the "tools." He has speed and some pop. He batted .335 with four home runs, 39 RBIs and 13 steals (in 14 attempts).

"It's just a matter of where and when" he gets drafted, Trapasso said.

Other players with ties to Hawai'i who were in Baseball America's report in other states were San Diego State junior shortstop Troy Hanzawa (Mid-Pacific 2003 and former UH player) and Central Missouri senior shortstop Gered Mochizuki, who was drafted by Kansas City in the 49th round out of Baldwin in 2003. Mochizuki went to Yavapai JC for two seasons before transferring to Division II Central Missouri.

Also to be considered is 2003 Kamehameha graduate Keoni Ruth, who has a strong draft history. After three seasons at San Diego, he transferred to NAIA Concordia (Irvine, Calif.). He was drafted in the 17th round by Kansas City out of Kamehameha in 2003. He was picked again last year, this time by the Chicago Cubs in the 17th round, but did not sign.

Hawai'i's talent pool appears to be limited to college players. Some high school names popped up earlier, but have waned since.

Besides their draft-eligible juniors, the Rainbows also will be watching their incoming recruits, such as 6-foot-5 pitchers Joshua Slaats and Sean Soto, high school seniors in California.

Although this year is not as fruitful as years past locally, scouts are already talking about the high school class of 2008. Prep teams were stocked with underclassmen starters this past season.

"There's deeper talent in the '08 class," one scout said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.