Fernando Right on Schedule : Angels: Reports are encouraging on former Dodger pitcher, who will start double-A game Monday in Mississippi.

Angel officials delivered encouraging reports Thursday on Fernando Valenzuela’s first minor league outing, leading Senior Vice President Dan O’Brien to believe that all will proceed as planned with the former Dodger’s eventual promotion to the Angels.

Pitching for the Class-A Palm Springs Angels Wednesday night, Valenzuela gave up four hits, three walks and one unearned run in four innings against High Desert, an affiliate of the San Diego Padres. He threw 84 pitches, 50 of them strikes.

On Tuesday, Valenzuela signed a one-year contract that calls for him to make three minor league starts. If he satisfies all the incentive clauses in the contract, the deal would be worth slightly more than $1 million.

Valenzuela will work out with the Angels at Anaheim Stadium today and Saturday before departing for Jackson, Miss., where he will start Monday for double-A Midland, Tex. His last start for Midland would be on June 1 at Little Rock, Ark.

“The reports we’ve gotten have all been pretty positive,” said O’Brien, who added that no radar gun had been trained on the 30-year-old left-hander to measure the velocity of his pitches. “Obviously, the first thing we have to take into account is that it was (like) the first game of spring training and he probably was a little nervous. All in all, it’s been positive . . .

“He threw four pitches and he threw quite well. He threw some good ones and some not-so-good ones.”

O’Brien acknowledged that he received an unfavorable scouting report on Valenzuela during spring training, before Valenzuela was released by the Dodgers. However, O’Brien said, “Everything changes.”

The key change has been in the Angels’ front office. O’Brien assumed Mike Port’s duties as general manager after Port was fired on April 30.

After seeing Valenzuela, Palm Springs Manager Nate Oliver is sure the veteran pitcher can succeed at the major league level again.

“He did a splendid job according to what he set out to do and the Angels wanted him to do, and that’s to put on a uniform, get out there and get the feel for things,” said Oliver, who spent seven years in the majors. “I was pleased and I was happy for him. I was happy to see him back in baseball.

“You knew he was going to struggle with his command and his control because pitching on your own is not the same as pitching to hitters and pitching in a competitive situation. The plate moves around when you haven’t pitched for a while. But he settled down after the first two innings and he was able to pinpoint his pitches around the knees. He had trouble spinning his breaking ball, but that will come with time and conditioning.”

The Angels’ scouting contingent consisted of Gene Mauch, former Angel manager; Preston Gomez, assistant to the general manager; Joe Maddon, minor league hitting instructor, and pitcher Matt Keough, who is working with the Angels’ pitchers while he recovers from rotator cuff surgery.