BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Norco’s Kile Remembers When

It hasn’t been that long since Houston Astro All-Star Darryl Kile, who has an 11-3 record and a 3.08 earned-run average, was a walk-on at Chaffey Junior College in Rancho Cucamonga.

Back then, in 1987, he was a skinny, rather uncoordinated first baseman/pitcher from Norco High with a fastball of about 78 m.p.h. He hadn’t been scouted by any clubs or offered a scholarship anywhere.

But during his freshman year at Chaffey, Kile caught the eye of Houston Astro scout Ross Sapp, who had a feeling Kile would improve. “The day before the (June of 1987) draft, some guys were telling me that the year before they played a joke on a player and called him and told him he was drafted,” Kile said. “So when Ross called me and told me the Astros had drafted me in the 30th round, I hung up. I was nobody special, and here I was drafted by the Astros.”

Kile was drafted under a program by Major League Baseball that allows a club to draft a high school senior or a college freshman and lets him return to school. The club retains the player’s rights for a year.

Kile says he can’t explain what happened between his freshman and sophomore years, but he gained about 13 m.p.h. on his fastball, grew three inches to 6 feet 5 and gained 20 pounds.

“It’s goofy,” he said. “Suddenly in my sophomore year I have all these scouts calling me, asking me when I was going to pitch again. And I would tell them that I was already drafted.”

The Astros signed him before the 1988 draft.

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Tim Wallach hit in the batting cage for the first time since being sidelined July 18 because of a broken rib. He took about 35 swings and said he felt no pain. Pat Screnar, Dodger physical therapist, said Wallach would be examined after the team returns to Los Angeles Thursday night. . . . Every day Raul Mondesi doesn’t start, Manager Tom Lasorda throws him 100 breaking balls in early batting practice. . . . The Astro’ Mark Portugal improved to 6-3 against the Dodgers. . . . Astro pitcher Pete Harnisch, who will face Tom Candiotti tonight, gave Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully a Fordham University baseball T-shirt. Harnisch and Scully both attended Fordham. “They didn’t have T-shirts when I played there,” Scully said.