BASEBALL / GARY KLEIN : Light Shines on the Mound in Tryout With Oakland A’s

Jeff Light hoped he would get a chance to play professional baseball when he left Montclair Prep as an All-Southern Section performer and headed to Stanford four years ago.

A reserve infielder and catcher for the Cardinal, Light batted just 24 times in four seasons. Now, however, he is getting a chance to show his skills.

As a pitcher.

Light, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander, attended a one-day tryout at the Oakland Coliseum before the draft. He took batting practice and did some catching, then was asked to throw off the mound.

Impressed with his arm strength, the Athletics selected him in the 13th round of the draft and assigned him to their affiliate in the Arizona Rookie League. He reported to begin his pro career the day after graduating from Stanford with a degree in anthropology.

“They liked my arm,” Light told the Arizona Republic. “That, and the fact that I stuck with (baseball), even though I hardly played in college.”

Light pitched in two games in Arizona, giving up one run and three hits in four innings and earning two saves. He was sent home last week with a strained elbow and told to get ready for spring training.

“I’m going to push it as long as I can. As long as I can take it, at least,” he said. “If I don’t see I’m moving up, I’ll take it with a grain of salt and leave and pursue other things.”

It’s over: Pat Bryant thought it would never end.

Bryant, an outfielder for the Columbus (Ga.) Indians in the Class-A South Atlantic League, suffered through an 0-for-32 slump before ending the streak with a double last Sunday against Sumter (S.C.).

Bryant, 18, was selected out of Cleveland High by the Cleveland Indians in the second round of the 1990 draft. He played only 34 games in rookie leagues last season after coming to terms with the Indians, so his experience with prolonged failure was a new one.

“I’ve had a couple of 0-for-14s before, but nothing like this,” said Bryant, who was batting .208 with six home runs and 24 runs batted in through Aug. 7. “It was tougher to deal with than I thought it would be.

“(During the slump) I hit the ball good, at people, popped out and struck out. I tried to bunt to get on but that didn’t work, either.”

Bryant broke the streak of futility in his final at-bat against Sumter.

“I just stood out on second base with a sigh of relief,” he said.

Haven’t we met before?: Kris Kaelin might not find his way to the major leagues, but he already has found a long lost friend by playing for Pocatello (Ida.), an independent team in the Pioneer Rookie League.

Kaelin, a first baseman from Thousand Oaks who played at Moorpark College and Eastern Oregon State, was listening to player introductions during Pocatello’s season opener at Butte (Mont.) when the announcer called out the name of Jim Koehler.

Kaelin, 21, and Koehler were boyhood friends but had lost touch when Koehler’s family moved out of Southern California.

“I looked out on the field and, lo and behold, it was him,” Kaelin said. “When I was introduced, he did the same kind of double-take.

“After the game we got together and talked. It was great to catch up. That’s been a highlight so far.”

Kaelin, who batted .424 with seven home runs and 45 runs batted in at Eastern Oregon State, has struggled. Kaelin was batting .223 with one homer and 12 RBIs.

“It’s been an up-and-down road,” he said. “I had a swing that was geared to the aluminum bat. I’m adjusting and learning.”

Strong showing: Pepperdine reliever Derek Wallace, an All-City Section player at Chatsworth High, was selected as the No. 7 prospect in the Cape Cod summer league for college players.

Wallace, 6-3, 180 pounds, will be a junior next season. He finished the league’s regular season 0-1 with a 2.61 earned-run average and seven saves for Chatham.

Recommended reading: Ernie Harwell has seen and described a lot of baseball in his 52 years as a sportswriter and announcer.

And Harwell, who is in his 31st year as the voice of the Detroit Tigers, draws on much of that experience in “Diamond Gems” (Momentum Books, $17.95).

Harwell, the first active announcer to be inducted into the broadcasters wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is first and foremost a storyteller. The book is 220 pages of anecdotes--none more than two pages long, which makes the book light, insightful and easy to digest.