FAYETTEVILLE — Apparently the San Diego Padres like Arkansas baseball players.

Third baseman Logan Forsythe became the first Arkansas player taken Thursday in the 2008 Major League Baseball draft when the Padres seleected him with the 46 th overall pick.

Forsythe went in the compensation round, which is sandwiched between the first and second rounds and are picks awarded to teams that lose players to free agency.

Forsythe is the second player from Arkansas in the past two years taken in the first round by the Padres, who selected pitcher Nick Schmidt with the 23 rd overall pick last season.

Arkansas hitting coach Todd Butler said Fosythe has all the tools to succeed in professional baseball.

“He’s earned this himself because he’s worked hard,” Butler said. “He has big-league work ethic and talent. We’re hoping in time he’ll be in the big leagues.” Forsythe hit. 357 as a junior and shared All-SEC first-team honors at third base with Vanderbilt’s Pedro Alvarez, who was taken with the second overall pick Thursday by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Forsythe was San Diego’s third pick of the day, following Wake Forest first baseman Allan Dykstra with the 23 rd overall pick and outfielder Jeff Decker of Peoria, Ariz., with the 42 nd overall pick in the compensation round.

Attempts to reach Forsythe were unsuccessful.

Forsythe was selected by the Padres as a third baseman, but he has the versatility to play other positions. He was a defensive standout at third base, but he also played some at second base and a couple of games at catcher during his Razorbacks career.

“They’ll have a hard time moving him from third base,” Butler said. “Even though [scouts ] say they’ll move him to second base or even catcher, I think he can be a third baseman and I think he’s a 15- to 20-home-run guy if he makes it to the big leagues.” Forsythe, a member of the USA National Team last summer, missed seven games because of injuries this season. He still played in 51 games and led the Razorbacks in four offensive categories: hits (65 ), stolen bases (11 ), walks (46 ) and sacrifice flies (3 ).

Arkansas had only three signed recruits taken in the first six rounds Thursday, but it appears two are headed to professional baseball and the third is questionable.

Catcher Braeden Schlehuber of the College of Southern Nevada said he already has agreed to sign with the Atlanta Braves, who picked him the fourth round.

“They’re going to pay for my schooling, and it’s a good opportunity I can’t pass up right now,” Schlehuber said. “When you’re a little kid you always want to be a professional baseball player, especially when you get the kind of opportunity I got today.” The Razorbacks almost certainly won’t see Tyler Sample, either. Sample, a 6-7 right-handed pitcher from Mullen High School in Denver, was picked in the third round — No. 80 overall — by the Kansas City Royals. He made his intentions clear last month when he told the Rocky Mountain News that he was planning to sign if taken in the top five rounds.

Schlehuber’s teammate at Southern Nevada, pitcher Colby Shreve, went in the sixth round to the Philadelphia Phillies but his status is uncertain.

After being considered a sure first-rounder, Shreve’s stock was in question after it was discovered he will need elbow ligament replacement surgery on his pitching arm. Arkansas could be out of the mix if the Phillies offer him more money than his draft slot despite the injury concerns.

“It’s a tough decision for him,” said Butler, who also serves as Arkansas’ recruiting coordinator. “He’d be able to pitch for us next spring and be back to where he was. I would love to see him come to school and say, ‘Hey, pay me the money that I’m worth.’” The Razorbacks did get some good news Thursday. Coveted two-way players Zack Cox of Louisville, Ky., and Bobby Bundy of Sperry, Okla., and outfielder Jarrod McKinney of Hughes Springs, Texas, were not drafted, increasing their chances of attending Arkansas.

The draft’s second day begins at 10: 30 a.m. Central today, when 44 rounds will be completed.

Arkansas junior left-hander Cliff Springston is expected to be the next Razorbacks player selected, probably somewhere between the eighth and 10 th rounds. Outfielders Chase Leavitt and Casey Coon and catcher Ryan Cisterna are the other Razorbacks most likely to be selected in today’s draft.

Second baseman Ben Tschepikow, pitcher Justin Wells and first baseman Aaron Murphree, who led Arkansas with 14 home runs, could go in the late rounds.