Top Draft Pick Still Unsigned

Negotiations with Casey Kotchman have reached a critical point, and if the Angels don’t sign their first-round pick within a week or so, he won’t play in the minor leagues this season.

The Angels are concerned they won’t be able to come to terms with the power-hitting first baseman, who is being advised in negotiations by his father, Tom Kotchman, a longtime Angel scout and manager of their Class-A team in Provo, Utah.

“I would say the chances [of signing him] are 50-50,” said Angel scouting director Donny Rowland, who was in Idaho Falls, Idaho, Sunday to speak with Tom Kotchman. “I’m hopeful, put it that way.”

The Angels thought it would take about $1.8 million to sign Kotchman, the 13th overall pick in the June 5 draft. Rowland refused to discuss details of negotiations, but there appears to be a significant financial gap--several hundred thousand dollars--between the sides. Of the 31 first-round picks, 19 have signed.

Kotchman, who hit .456 with five home runs, 32 runs batted in and 44 runs to lead Seminole High to a 31-0 record and the Florida 5-A state championship, has not signed a college letter of intent, but Tom Kotchman told the Provo Daily Herald his son might sign with Northwestern or Brigham Young.

Both sides hoped for a quick resolution so Casey could begin play with the rookie-league team in Mesa, Ariz., and join Provo in August. But if he doesn’t sign soon, the Angels will shift their focus to a 2002 contract, which would enable Kotchman to play in the fall instructional league.

If the Angels aren’t concerned about pitcher Scott Schoeneweis’ recent struggles, Schoeneweis certainly is. The left-hander couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning in the first game Sunday, giving up four runs on eight hits and walking two in four innings for a no-decision.

Schoeneweis had a 6-4 record and 3.71 earned-run average June 13, but in his last seven games, he has given up 35 earned runs on 54 hits in 39 innings, his record falling to 7-8 and his ERA jumping to 5.04.

“I’m just not getting the job done,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I’m not getting ahead of hitters and I’m not hitting my spots.”

Benji Gil had two hard-hit doubles, two RBIs and two runs in the opener and is batting .345. He has five homers, 11 runs and four doubles in his last eight starts. Afterward, a reporter told Gil it seems as if the ball is making a different sound off his bat. “Yeah,” Gil said, “it’s the barrel.” . . . Darin Erstad tried to steal home in the third inning of the nightcap but was tagged out by catcher Brook Fordyce.

TODAY

ANGELS’

ISMAEL VALDES

(6-5, 3.99 ERA)

vs.

ORIOLES’

JOSE MERCEDES

(4-10, 5.55 ERA)

Camden Yards, Baltimore, 9:30 PDT

Radio--KLAC (570), XPRS (1090).

Update--Valdes was forced out of his last start in Tampa Bay on Wednesday after six innings because of a blood blister on the index finger of his pitching hand, but the blister has healed sufficiently. The right-hander threw six shutout innings against the Devil Rays, giving up two hits, striking out four and walking none.