Chatsworth Draft Total Grows to 4 : Toronto Takes Johnson, Pirates Select Wallace With Late-Round Picks

The number of Chatsworth High players chosen in baseball’s amateur draft reached four Wednesday when Eric Johnson and Derek Wallace learned that they had been picked in the late rounds of the selection process.

Johnson, a catcher and designated-hitter, was taken by Toronto. Wallace, a pitcher and first baseman, was selected by Pittsburgh. On the first day of the draft Monday, Pittsburgh took Chatsworth third baseman Rich Aude in the second round and the Chicago Cubs picked shortstop-pitcher Jason Evans in the fourth round.

Chatsworth posted a 21-7 record and won its ninth consecutive league title this season, but lost for the third year in a row in the semifinals of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs.

Neither Johnson nor Wallace said he knew in which round he was selected--and neither asked club officials when contacted. It seems unlikely that either will sign a professional contract. Johnson has signed a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge and Wallace has signed with Pepperdine.

“Someone from Toronto called and told me I was taken and I didn’t even ask which round,” Johnson said. “It didn’t concern me. I’m set at CSUN. I want to have three good years there and wait to be drafted again. Then they can give me $100,000.”

Oddly enough, Pittsburgh drafted Wallace as a shortstop, a position he played as a junior but not at all this season.

Johnson transferred to Chatsworth from Michigan for his senior season. He batted .365 with three home runs and 37 runs batted in. Wallace was named the West Valley League Most Valuable Player after compiling a 9-3 record with a 1.92 earned-run average. He also batted .344 with four home runs, 22 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.

Mark Gieseke, a 1985 Westlake High graduate, was one of six Cal State Sacramento players selected in the draft when he was picked Tuesday by San Diego sometime after the 20th round.

Gieseke, 22, a senior switch-hitting first baseman and a two-time All-American, is scheduled to report Saturday to the club’s Class-A affiliate in Spokane, Wash.

Gieseke said that San Diego team officials would not specify in which round he had been chosen.

“I really don’t know too much about what’s going on, I wish I did,” said Gieseke, who batted .372 with team-high totals of nine home runs and 45 RBIs for the Hornets, who spent part of the season ranked No. 1 in the nation among National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II schools.

“I’m a little in the dark right now,” Gieseke added. “But I’m happy I have a chance this year. And I’d better take advantage of it.”

Gieseke, who batted .467 as a senior at Westlake, played one season at both Valley College and College of the Canyons before transferring to Sacramento.

Crespi High catcher John Dempsey (6-foot, 185 pounds), son of veteran major league catcher Rick Dempsey, was selected Monday by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 10th round. Dempsey batted .302 with six extra-base hits and 19 RBIs.

Rick Allen, a 1985 Calabasas High graduate, was selected in the 10th round Monday by the Cincinnati Reds.

Allen (6-1, 180), a senior third baseman at Loyola Marymount, played one year at Moorpark College and two years with the now-defunct Valley Dodgers.

This season, Allen led Loyola with 11 home runs, 60 RBIs and 22 stolen bases while batting .322.

Rob Wheatcroft, a senior pitcher for Cal State Northridge, was picked by Baltimore on Tuesday in the 32nd round. Wheatcroft led the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. with 11 wins this season.

Staff writers Steve Elling, John Lynch and Vince Kowalick contributed to this story.