Kuld Leaves for the Appalachian League After Signing Contract With Cleveland

Pete Kuld begins his professional baseball career today when he reports to Burlington, N.C., of the Appalachian League, the Cleveland Indians rookie league affiliate.

Kuld signed a contract Thursday, two weeks after being selected in the 13th round of the June amateur draft by the Indians. He left Friday for North Carolina.

Last year, the Chicago White Sox drafted Kuld, but he turned down their contract offer to accept a scholarship to Pepperdine. The junior catcher had six home runs and was named first-team all-conference as Pepperdine won the West Coast Athletic Conference with an overall record of 48-12-3.

It was the third straight year in which Kuld played for a team that won either a conference or league title. He played on a City 4-A baseball championship team as a senior at Chatsworth High and helped win a pair of Mountain Valley Conference titles at College of the Canyons.