COLLEGE BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Arizona State’s Kelly Expected to Be First Player Chosen in Draft

Mike Kelly passed up the chance to start his professional baseball career when he enrolled at Arizona State after being selected by the New York Mets in the 24th round of the 1988 draft.

Now, after three outstanding seasons with the Sun Devils, Kelly is on the verge of heading to New York, although his destination appears to have changed from Shea Stadium to Yankee Stadium.

Kelly, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound junior outfielder from Los Alamitos, is expected to be chosen by the Yankees as the first player in the June 3 draft. Should that happen, he will become the first Southern California-bred player to be picked No. 1 since 1980, when the Mets took Darryl Strawberry out of Crenshaw High.

“I never anticipated being thought of that highly,” Kelly said, “but I did come to ASU to improve my stock and myself as a player, and I think I’ve done that.”

Kelly was named college player of the year by Baseball America magazine last season after he batted .376 with 21 home runs, 82 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases.

This season, after a battle with flu, he is batting .373 with nine homers, 37 RBIs and 17 steals for the Sun Devils, who begin a Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division series at No. 2-ranked USC tonight at 7.

The Yankees have the No. 1 choice because they were the American League team with the poorest record in 1990. The last time the Yankees had the No. 1 pick was in 1967,when they chose Ron Blomberg out of Druid Hills High in Atlanta.

“It’s not really a distraction,” Kelly said of the attention he has been receiving from scouts and the media. “If anything, it’s a very secure feeling to know that you’re going to be a relatively high draft pick and the future is looking bright. It relaxes you a little bit.”

The excitement level figures to increase after the draft when discussions regarding a signing bonus begin.

Toronto Blue Jay first baseman John Olerud, who was drafted in the third round in 1989, received the largest bonus in history when he signed for $575,000. That same year, the Baltimore Orioles paid Louisiana State pitcher Ben McDonald $350,000 when they made him the No. 1 pick in the draft. Last year, high school infielder Chipper Jones received $275,000 when the Atlanta Braves chose him No. 1.

For now, however, Kelly said he is intent on helping Arizona State gain a berth in the NCAA playoffs. The Sun Devils are in fourth place in the Southern Division. USC leads the conference at 17-4 followed by Stanford (11-4), California (9-11), Arizona State (8-13), Arizona (7-13) and UCLA (5-13).

Trivia time: If Kelly is taken No. 1 in the draft, he would become the fourth Arizona State player to gain the honor. Who are the other three?

Double duty: While Kelly is generally regarded as the most talented college player in the nation, Craig Clayton of Cal State Northridge is proving that he is maybe the most versatile.

Clayton was part of the same outstanding Orange County high school class that produced Kelly in 1988, but he was largely overlooked by pro scouts and Division I schools when he graduated from Anaheim Loara High.

Northridge Coach Bill Kernen offered Clayton a scholarship on the day Clayton was to begin classes at Cypress College, and the payback has been greater than anyone--including Clayton--could have imagined.

Clayton has started every game for the Matadors since he arrived on campus and has played every position except catcher. Last season, he led Northridge to a second-place finish in the Division II World Series and was named an All-American after compiling a 12-6 record and batting .397 with 13 homers and 62 RBIs.

“I had a great season, but there were still some people that said, ‘OK, let’s see what you do at the Division I level,’ ” Clayton said. “I wanted to improve all my numbers and show them I could play with anyone. I think I’m doing that.”

Indeed, Clayton is batting .397 and as a pitcher is 9-2 with a 1.49 earned-run average for the No. 15-ranked Matadors, who are 30-12 and in contention for a playoff berth in their first season as an independent at the Division I level. By the end of this season, Clayton will hold school records for hits, runs, RBIs, doubles, wins and strikeouts.

“He’s not a Mike Kelly talent in terms of major league tools, but he is very, very talented and competitive,” Kernen said. “He’s the most versatile college player in the country.”

Shooting star: Terrell Lowery was one of the top offensive players in the country during basketball season when he averaged 28.5 points a game for Loyola Marymount.

A 6-2 guard, he was disappointed when the Lions failed to make the NCAA basketball tournament for the first time in four years. But that misfortune has proved to be an unforeseen bit of luck for Lowery, who has been scoring points with professional baseball scouts since entering Loyola’s lineup last month.

Lowery is batting .341 in 13 games and has impressed with his quickness at the plate and speed in the outfield.

During his first two years at Loyola, Lowery returned from the NCAA basketball tournament in March and worked out with the baseball team. However, he never suited up for a game.

“I was hoping the time I spent practicing would pay off and that I’d get a chance somewhere down the line,” Lowery said.

That opportunity presented itself when injuries to other players led Coach Chris Smith to insert Lowery in the outfield. He hit safely in his first four games, going six for 12 after not playing organized baseball since high school.

Lowery has one season of basketball eligibility remaining and is a draft-eligible sophomore in baseball.

“I’m going to keep my options open and go with whichever offer is better,” Lowery said of his future. “I’d like to play (professional) baseball this summer if I’m offered the opportunity.”

Trivia answer: Rick Monday (1965), Floyd Bannister (1976) and Bob Horner (1978).

Simply perfect: That’s what Vince Aguilar of Cal State Dominguez Hills was last Saturday when the senior left-hander needed only 80 pitches in a perfect game against Chapman. It was only the second no-hitter in school history.

“Going into the fifth inning, I knew I had a perfect game,” said Aguilar, who is 3-2. “The thing that really helped me was getting ahead of hitters.”

Aguilar let only three batters get to three-ball counts. Center fielder John Otte helped preserve the perfect game when he made a diving catch of a line drive in the left-field gap.

College Baseball Notes

Brent Cookson of No. 4-ranked Cal State Long Beach is batting .379 and leading the Big West Conference with 13 home runs. Fresno State leads the Big West with an 8-1 record, followed by Long Beach (7-2), Cal State Fullerton (6-3), Nevada Las Vegas (6-3), San Jose State (3-6), Pacific (3-6), UC Santa Barbara (2-7) and UC Irvine (1-8).

Jason Moler, who transferred from Illinois to Fullerton earlier this season, is batting a team-high .382 in 25 games with the Titans. . . . Santa Barbara shortstop Danny Lane is out for the season after suffering a broken finger during batting practice last week. Lane, a sophomore, was batting .350 with 11 home runs and 60 RBIs. He is the fourth Gaucho player to break a finger this season.

Steve Montgomery of Pepperdine is 7-0 with a nation-leading 0.80 ERA for the No. 7 Waves, who lead the West Coast Conference with a 15-3 record. Loyola Marymount is second at 15-8, followed by St. Mary’s (14-10), Santa Clara (13-10), San Diego (9-13) and USF (6-19). Pepperdine’s 2.62 staff ERA is the lowest in the nation.

Brett Jenkins of USC is batting .391 with 21 doubles, and the Trojans’ Mark Smith is batting .366 with 13 homers and 55 RBIs. . . . UCLA’s Ryan McGuire, a freshman first baseman and designated hitter from Woodland Hills, is batting a team-high .403.