BOSTON — After spending two of their first three picks on position players, the Red Sox spent the second day of the draft stocking up on pitching.

The Sox drafted 15 pitchers and 12 position players with their picks in rounds 4 through 30 on Wednesday. Of the 30 players Boston has drafted so far, exactly half are high schoolers and half are college players.

Among the more interesting second-day picks are ninth rounder William Volz, who served as the closer for Team USA last summer, and fifth rounder Seth Schwindenhammer, who would lay claim to the longest name in the majors if he makes it to the bigs.

Fourth round outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker is an on-base machine out of Ball State, who posted a .550 OBP this year, second-best in all of Division I.

The sixth-round pick, Maryland high schooler Branden Kline, has strongly stated his desire to go to college, saying to the Fredrick News-Post that it would take "a high pick and a lot of money" to convince him otherwise.

In the seventh round, the Sox picked up Madison Younginer, a high-school right hander already throwing consistently in the mid-90s. Younginer is a rarity in that he serves as the closer for his South Carolina high school team, rather than as a workhorse starter.

In a surprising move, the Sox have already reportedly signed 10th-rounder Brandon Jacobs away from a football scholarship at Auburn University, according to Auburnsports.com. It is extremely rare for the team to agree to a contract with highly-drafted player so soon after the draft.

The Red Sox also drafted Luke Bard, younger brother of Red Sox hurler Daniel Bard. The younger Bard is also a hard-throwing right-hander, but it doesn't appear that he can yet chuck it quite as fast as his 100-mph elder brother.

Boston picked three other players with local ties, as well: Milton, Mass., native Alex Hassan, a Duke University right-hander, in the 20th round; Fiskdale, Mass., high school shortstop Dan Kemp in the 24th round, and Trinity College product Jeremiah Bayer, a Greenfield, Mass., native and right-handed pitcher, in the 30th round.

On the draft's first day, Boston picked center fielder Reymond Fuentes, pitcher Alex Wilson and shortstop David Renfroe.

The draft concludes Thursday.

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With a log jam of outfielders in Pawtucket, the Red Sox traded veteran Chip Ambres to the New York Mets for a player to be named later. Before Tuesday's transaction, this season was Ambres' second in the Red Sox organization. He spent the first half of 2005 with the PawSox until he was traded to the Royals for infielder Tony Graffanino. Ambres played 51 games for Pawtucket this season and posted a .254 average with 3 homers and 18 RBI. Ambres, who is well respected on and off the field, has 80 games of major-league service with the Royals, Mets and Padres. He has been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.

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NESN cameras got a shot of Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the dugout Tuesday night and it appeared that he was sleeping. He did not pitch against the Yankees, and manager Terry Francona admitted Wednesday that Papelbon was sick and not available to work.

Papelbon attended a charity event for Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek on the club's off day on Monday and got food poisoning. Francona said Papelbon was feeling better and was available Wednesday night.

"I felt bad for him. He had a tough night," said Francona. Team physician Larry Ronan "almost took him to the hospital because he was so dehydrated," the manager added.

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Francona said John Smoltz is ready for a "full-fledged outing" when he takes the mound for the PawSox Thursday night in Syracuse.

"He's not going to throw 130 pitches, but let him get ready to compete," he said. "We're trying to get him ready to come pitch for us."

Smoltz is on the verge of accomplishing that goal, and it's possible he could start for the Sox on Tuesday against the Marlins at Fenway Park.

"He's got enough minor-league rehab starts under his belt," said Francona. "It's all about being healthy, competing and feeling good about himself, and being able to do it time and again."

When Smoltz does return, management hasn't made public its decision how it plans on using the future Hall of Famer on a fulltime basis.

"We've certainly had conversations," said Francona, "and [general manager Theo Epstein] has been involved in all of those. We'll figure it out. These things have a way of getting worked out."

jmcdonal@projo.com

dbarbari@projo.com