Angels Sign Jerome Walton to a Minor League Contract

Hoping to revitalize the once-promising career of outfielder Jerome Walton, the Angels signed the former National League rookie of the year to a triple-A contract Friday that will pay him $450,000 if he makes the big leagues.

Walton, 27, who was released by the Chicago Cubs only three years after he was voted the 1989 league rookie of the year, will be invited to the major league spring training camp and provided the opportunity to win a job as an extra outfielder. If he is sent to the minors, he will be paid about $150,000.

“Everything’s going to depend on how he does in spring training,” said Dan O’Brien, Angel vice president for baseball operations. “But if a player can do it once, you’ve got the feeling he can do it again.”

Walton batted .293 with five homers and 46 runs batted in as a rookie. He held out the next year in the first of two contract disputes and never again was the player the Cubs envisioned.

Walton batted .263 with two homers and 21 RBIs during an injury-plagued 1990 season, and hit only .219 the following year.

He was projected as the Cubs’ starting center fielder in 1992 but lost his job to Sammy Sosa and wound up in the minors.