Promotion Surprises Clayton : Baseball: Former Northridge player makes Mariners’ 40-man roster as a pitcher.

Craig Clayton was reading the small print in the sports section last weekend when he spotted an interesting item: The Seattle Mariners had added him to their 40-man, big-league roster.

Sometimes a guy is the last to know about his own promotion. And even before the Thanksgiving weekend, Clayton said, he still “hadn’t heard” from the Mariners.

He celebrated anyway. “If it’s in the newspaper, I figure it has to be official,” said Clayton, a former All-American at Cal State Northridge.

In this particular case, he is right.

Jim Beattie, Seattle’s farm director, said the decision to protect Clayton from baseball’s Rule V draft of minor league players was made last week.

Clayton, 23, played more than 100 games at third base and batted better than .300 for Mariner affiliates in Class-A Riverside and double-A Jacksonville, Fla., last season, but it was his performance in three mop-up appearances as a pitcher that fueled his ascent.

In four shutout innings at Jacksonville, Clayton gave up only three hits--and his fastball was clocked at better than 90 m.p.h.

The radar readings earned Clayton an invitation to the instructional league in October at the club’s spring training facility in Peoria, Ariz. He struck out 25 in as many innings, giving up only four earned runs and topping out at 94 m.p.h.

“He looked like a pitcher out there,” Beattie said. “He didn’t look like a converted guy at all. He was throwing well, throwing three different pitches, and they all were good pitches. But what was probably most surprising was his velocity.”

Pitching full time for the first time since the spring of 1991, when he played for Northridge, Clayton was almost too impressive. The Mariners suddenly feared losing him in next month’s draft of minor leaguers.

If he had been unprotected, Clayton could have been claimed by any major league team willing to keep him on its major league roster for a year and pay the Mariners $50,000. Clayton said he considered his being protected “a long shot.”

The Mariners obviously did not.

“We felt like with the stuff he had, regardless of experience, there was a possibility another major league club would take a chance on him,” Beattie said. “To get a guy who might be close to making it in the major leagues, $50,000 is pretty cheap.”

Drafted in the sixth round from Northridge in the spring of 1991, Clayton considered his choice of paths to the majors “a tossup.”

As a pitcher that spring, Clayton posted a 14-5 record with a 2.25 earned-run average and 166 strikeouts in 160 1/3 innings. As a hitter, he completed his three years as a Matador with an average of .361.

The Mariners chose to see if he could hit his way to the big leagues.

“As a third baseman he was adequate,” Beattie said. “If you don’t run well and you don’t hit for power, you need some kind of tools to make it. His tool is his arm, so we thought it was best to use it and make him a pitcher.”

Clayton said he favored any change that placed him on a faster track to the big leagues.

“It’s a matter of how I can get there quicker and which is going to give me the longest career,” Clayton said. “It makes me feel good that they think I’m a prospect. I just want to go to big league camp and get a chance to show them what I can do.”

He does not expect to start in Seattle, however. Jacksonville or triple-A Calgary is more likely, he said.

“They protected me because they think I’m a prospect, but at the same time I don’t have experience pitching to major league hitters or even in the minors on a regular basis.”

Beattie predicted Clayton would start out in Jacksonville’s bullpen, but he also refused to discount the possibility of a jump directly to the Mariners.

“If he has an outstanding spring and makes major league hitters look bad, you never know,” Beattie said. “In Seattle we’re looking for bullpen help.”