Zito Out in Cold Despite the Draft

Barry Zito spent the college baseball season showing professional scouts his best stuff.

The left-hander from Pierce College, selected by the Texas Rangers in the third round of the June draft, now waits patiently for the major league club to make its best pitch.

That wait continues into its ninth week, and less than a month remains in the minor league season.

In recent days, former Simi Valley High pitcher Jeff Weaver, the Detroit Tigers’ first-round selection, and former Quartz Hill High pitcher Darrell Hussman, the Cincinnati Reds’ fourth-round pick, signed and might salvage the 1998 season.

Zito, rated by several publications and on-line services as a borderline first-round selection, was disappointed when he fell to the 83rd overall pick.

“I think I’m better than that,” said Zito, 20, who has spent the summer pitching for the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts, considered the nation’s top amateur league. “But, the draft . . . don’t even try to predict it.”

The La Mesa native is 4-2 with a 2.56 earned-run average and 76 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings for the Gatemen.

He was scheduled to represent Wareham in the league’s all-star game Saturday night, but didn’t expect to play after throwing 101 pitches the night before.

Neither Zito nor the Rangers will give specific details of the negotiations, but sources close to the situation say Zito is seeking a signing bonus of about $350,000 and an invitation to the Rangers’ major league camp in 1999.

“The talks are definitely stalled,” said Chuck McMichael, the Rangers’ director of scouting. “I would characterize it as a polite impasse.”

Zito last year transferred to Pierce from UC Santa Barbara to become eligible for the 1998 draft. He has committed to USC and says he will play there next season if an agreement with the Rangers cannot be reached.

“People ask me if I am really intent on going to SC,” he said. “The answer is no. I still hope to sign. But it’s a win-win situation for me.”

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McMichael is no stranger to Valley-area baseball.

When Crescenta Valley High won the Southern Section Division I title last spring, the Falcons became the first team from the region to win the section’s largest division championship in 23 years.

McMichael was the section player of the year in 1975, when he led Hoover to the 4-A title.

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Former Chatsworth High and Alemany first baseman Jon Tucker, one of three minor leaguers dealt Friday by the Dodgers to the Montreal Expos in the deal for pitcher Carlos Perez and Mark Grudzielanek, was assigned to double-A Harrisburg of the Eastern League.

Tucker was just the latest of several local players to switch uniforms.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs acquired reliever Matt Karchner in a deal that sent former Kennedy High pitcher Jon Garland to the Chicago White Sox.

“Any time you can get a young arm like this, you make the deal,” White Sox General Manager Ron Schuler said. “It wasn’t easy to get this kid.”

Garland, the No. 10 overall pick in the 1997 draft, reported to the Class-A Hickory Crawdads of the South Atlantic League on Saturday and is scheduled to make his debut with the club on Monday at Capital City, S.C.

On July 23, former Chatsworth High pitcher Steve Reed and former Channel Islands High outfielder Jacob Cruz were traded by the San Francisco Giants to the Cleveland Indians for Jose Mesa and Shawon Dunston.

Since the trade, Reed is 1-0 and has struck out seven in 5 2/3 shutout innings as the Indians’ setup man to Mike Jackson.

Cruz is batting .370 (10 for 27) in eight games for Buffalo, Cleveland’s triple-A affiliate.

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Catcher Frank Charles (Montclair Prep) and outfielder Jalal Leach (Pepperdine) have been promoted to triple-A Fresno by the Giants.

Charles, a catcher who batted .303 for double-A Shreveport, singled against Las Vegas in his first at-bat for Fresno on Friday night.

Leach, who was batting .344 at Shreveport, hit two home runs and two singles in eight at-bats at Fresno.

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* MINOR LEAGUE STATS: C14

* MINOR LEAGUE REPORT: C14

* FULL LOAD: There is no off-season for Bill Sizemore, the Thousand Oaks baseball coach who is also a minor-league instructor. C15