Schmidt closer to rehab in minors

Jason Schmidt took the biggest step yet in his comeback from June shoulder surgery, throwing 40 pitches to hitters off the Dodger Stadium mound Friday.

Schmidt also threw another 30 pitches in the bullpen, moving him closer to a minor league rehab assignment, the next major hurdle he’ll have to negotiate before rejoining the Dodgers’ rotation.

“What we set out to do was accomplished,” said Dodgers trainer Stan Conte, who has refused to put Schmidt on a strict timetable. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. And then we’ll set up the new schedule. It’s been a long road, so I kind of take this hour by hour.”

Schmidt, who was 1-4 in six starts before his surgery in 2007, declined to speak with reporters, but Manager Joe Torre shared Conte’s optimism, saying the 35-year-old right-hander tested his full repertoire of pitches.

“He did everything he was supposed to do,” Torre said. “[But] we’re not making any long-range plans. We’ll see how he comes through. He really hasn’t had any problems. This was a pretty good test here today.”

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Cory Wade’s first pitch off a major league mound was a memorable one Thursday -- but for all the wrong reasons.

“My first warmup pitch I threw about 58 feet,” he said of the fastball he bounced in the dirt.

Things got a lot better after that with the 24-year-old right-hander tossing a hitless ninth, striking out one, in his first game above double A.

“I just tried to stay as calm as I could,” he said. “I wanted to jump up and just run out on the field. I really had to calm myself down a lot.”

Wade, who got news of his promotion in an early-morning phone call, didn’t get to Dodger Stadium until about 2 1/2 hours before game time. And his fiancee, Mikaela Walton, didn’t make it to Los Angeles until midnight, missing the game entirely. But his father saw it -- dozens of times after taping it off the television.

“He bought the MLB Extra Innings package and watched it on TV,” Wade said. “He almost didn’t buy it. But my mom said you’re going to be mad if he ends up pitching.”

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The Dodgers’ decision to expand their pitching staff to 12 by calling up Wade and optioning rookie third baseman Blake DeWitt to the minors has put a premium on versatility for the team’s position players, which is why the club has expressed an interest in former Dodgers infielder Juan Castro.

Castro, an 11-year veteran who can play three positions, was released by the Reds this week and will become a free agent if the team can’t trade him by Thursday. The Dodgers, who love his glove, appear willing to wait until then rather than giving up a player and assuming his contract, which pays him $975,000 this season and includes an option for 2009.

“I know where he wants to go, he wants to go back to L.A.,” Castro’s agent Oscar Suarez said. The Dodgers, however, are just one of several clubs that have talked to Cincinnati about Castro.

With rookie Chin-lung Hu as the only backup infielder, the Dodgers had Delwyn Young taking ground balls at third during batting practice Friday. Young, who had 10 pinch-hit at-bats entering the weekend, and Mark Sweeney, who had pinch-hit 14 times, are the only two position players who have yet to start a game.

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Torre said right-hander Esteban Loaiza will start Sunday with left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo returning to the bullpen. . . . Veteran left-hander Mike Myers, who failed to make the team as a nonroster invitee to spring training, asked for and was granted his release Friday. Myers, 39, pitched 13 seasons in the majors and was 1-1 with a 3.38 earned-run average and one save in 10 games for triple-A Las Vegas.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com