COLLEGE BASEBALL : Jury Is Out on New Draft Rule

Southland college baseball coaches are taking a wait-and-see attitude amid the confusion surrounding a new draft rule enacted last week by major league baseball.

The measure, which was passed at the owners’ quarterly meeting in Chicago and will be implemented beginning this year, gives major league teams the rights to drafted players until 51 weeks after their college class graduates.

Publicly, major league baseball has declared that the rule will help college baseball by encouraging marginal prospects to pursue an education and develop their baseball skills before signing a professional contract. But the rule generally is regarded as an attempt by owners to further control players and curb the bonus inflation of recent drafts. Last year, pitcher Brien Taylor signed with the New York Yankees for $1.55 million.

Under the old rules, as they applied to four-year schools, major league teams controlled a drafted high school player’s rights until the player began classes in college. A four-year college player was eligible to be drafted again, by any team, after his junior season. Underclassmen could make themselves eligible by dropping out of school 120 days before the draft.

The new rule allows players to drop out at the end of any season and negotiate with the team that controls their rights. If they do not sign a contract, they may return to college baseball. Players can repeat the process each year, though only with the organization that holds their rights.

Players drafted before 1992 are not bound to any team. If players previously drafted are selected this year or in the future, they will be governed by the old rules.

“On the surface, you’d think that if more kids were going to college, that would be good for our programs,” UCLA Coach Gary Adams said. “But it really makes it tough because if a player can drop out and negotiate every year, you don’t know who you’re going to have coming back. That makes it tough for the coaches and the players because you only have a certain number of scholarships.”

Said Coach Augie Garrido of Cal State Fullerton: “My first thought is, ‘What’s the reaction going to be from the families of players that are going to be the Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 draft choices,’ because those people stood to make a lot of money. There’s no reason to think the rule is going to have a real negative impact on college baseball. We just have to wait and see.”

Trivia time: Which former Southland college baseball player active in the major leagues has the most home runs in his career?

Under control: Pete Janicki was a freshman All-American pitcher for UCLA two years ago when he compiled a 9-1 record and a 3.63 earned-run average.

Last season, after gaining 25 pounds during the off-season, Janicki’s record fell to 5-7 and his ERA ballooned to 6.09.

“I had gone to summer school and was lifting weights, but was mostly just sitting around,” said Janicki, who is 6 feet 4. “I was a little stronger than my freshman year, but I had a big boiler (stomach). I’ve watched a video of me throwing against Florida last year and it was kind of gross.”

Janicki lost the weight last summer before taking off to play in the Cape Cod League. “I got a new girlfriend and we played tennis all the time,” he said. “She had me all over the court.”

Janicki now weighs 185 pounds and appears to have regained his form of 1990. He is 3-2 with a 2.98 ERA for UCLA, which is ranked No. 23 by Baseball America.

Barcelona hopeful: Cal State Long Beach third baseman Jason Giambi missed an Olympic team tryout in December because of tendinitis in his shoulder, but he still intends to be part of the 20-man team this summer.

Giambi, a junior who played for Team USA in the Pan American Games last summer, raised his average above .400 last weekend with seven hits in 11 at-bats as No. 14-ranked Long Beach won two of three games at Tennessee.

“There have been guys in the past who have turned down a chance to play for the Olympic team,” Giambi said. “That’s a dream I really can’t pass up.”

Trivia answer: Montreal Expos third baseman Tim Wallach, a former All-American at Cal State Fullerton, has 195 homers, ranking him 28th among active major league players.

College Baseball Notes

Rob Ickes, a junior catcher who drove in three runs in his first two seasons at Loyola Marymount, had five RBIs against St. Mary’s to increase his season total to 10. Loyola (7-12) plays host to No. 7 Pepperdine (12-5) in a West Coast Conference series starting Friday. . . . USC shortstop Lionel Hastings is batting .327 for USC (10-11), which is 2-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division. The Trojans will play host to Arizona State this weekend. Stanford (4-2) and Arizona State (4-2) are tied for first place in the Pac-10, followed by UCLA (3-2), Arizona (3-2), USC (2-4) and California (1-5). . . . UCLA outfielder Michael Moore is batting .364 with four home runs and 21 runs batted in for the No. 23 Bruins (15-5), who have a Pac-10 bye this weekend.