Bad Luck Continues for Janicki : Baseball: Angels’ top prospect hurts his pitching arm again and will probably be out for several months.

Pete Janicki, the top-rated prospect in the Angel organization, made the trip to Anaheim Stadium on Sunday--ahead of schedule and trying to figure a way to stay busy this summer.

Janicki suffered a fractured elbow Saturday evening while making a pitch for single-A Palm Springs. It was an injury that Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angels’ orthopedist who examined the pitcher at the stadium Sunday, said will probably sideline Janicki for at least “a few” months.

The worrisome aspect of the injury for the Angels is this: It is the second time since June that the bones in Janicki’s right (pitching) elbow have crackled like a bowl of cereal. He also suffered a stress fracture in the elbow last June during the Olympic trials. It caused him to sit out last summer and much of the winter.

Now, instead of strikeouts and promotions, the biggest day of the season for Janicki figures to be today, when he travels to the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic in Inglewood to be examined by Yocum, Dr. Frank Jobe and a other specialists.

They will decide whether to take the conservative route, and let the elbow heal naturally, or to perform surgery. Yocum and Janicki are hoping they can stay conservative.

“It’s no easy call,” said Yocum, who will compare X-rays of Janicki’s current fracture with ones from last year’s at his office this morning. “You have to take many factors into it. The patient’s best interests, the desire to prolong his career. The first time, the stress fracture should heal. The second time, you start to get concerned.”

Janicki, the Angels’ first choice in last summer’s draft and the eighth selection overall, injured his elbow while throwing a third strike to the 10th batter he faced in a game at Riverside.

“I don’t know exactly what caused it,” said Janicki, 22. “We’ll take care of it again and give it another run and see what happens.

“I was 100% in spring training. I was throwing better than I ever have and harder than I ever have. I was throwing really well. I had a lot of confidence.

“I did recover (from the first fracture) and I will recover again. I just have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

It hasn’t been one of his better years. After sitting out last season, he wrecked his car during spring training when he lost control on a gravel road in Scottsdale, Ariz. He suffered cuts on his face and an acute case of embarrassment.

“This whole (year) is one to remember--or one to forget,” said Janicki, who starred at UCLA after a memorable career at El Dorado High in Placentia. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet . . .

“This will really make the summer boring.”

What concerns Yocum is that this has happened twice. Yocum said the new fracture appears to be in the same area of the elbow but does not appear to be the same fracture.

“It’s totally conceivable that this will heal completely and it breaks down again,” he said.

Janicki, who is on the Angels’ 40-man roster, signed a three-year, non-guaranteed contract for $585,000.

The way Janicki sees it, he won’t be able to do much for the bulk of the summer. Shoot, he can’t even drive a stick shift.

“I don’t know, I’ll probably just get tanned this summer,” Janicki said. “I’ve been sitting around trying to think up things I can do. Fishing is too strenuous, golf is too strenuous, all the things I love to do.”