1468 THE MAGIC NUMBER 1 PLAYER, 1 DREAM, 1 CHANCE.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

Justin Rethwisch couldn't handle waiting any longer. The former Antelope Valley College and Lancaster High center fielder listened to the radio broadcast of the amateur baseball draft for 40 rounds over the Internet, waiting for his name to be called.

The optimism from a distant dream suddenly within reach had faded. There was no way, he thought. He had given up.

A mother doesn't concede so easily when it comes to her kid's future. Maureen Rethwisch went to her job as an administrative assistant at Antelope Valley College and checked the computer one last time.

She skimmed through the 41st round, 42nd, 43rd - nothing. She decided to skip to the 50th and final round and go backward. And there he was, the sixth pick in the round, 1,468th overall, selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, opened them and looked again. It was true. Her son had been drafted. Sure, it was in the last round. But later picks - including Mike Piazza, who was taken in the 62nd round - have succeeded in the major leagues.

She called Justin's cell phone, but there was no answer. She paged him repeatedly, but there was no response. She called his friend's mother and found out Justin had gone to AVC to work out on the field.

The half-hour that had passed seemed an eternity in light of such exciting news and it turned out they were on the same campus. Finally, Maureen found her son and told him, handing him a computer printout just in case he didn't believe it.

For some, being selected in the 50th round might not seem like a monumental achievement. Many teams don't even make selections that late. This year, 23 of 30 teams made last-round picks. In 2000, 20 teams made selections and only three players ended up signing.

For Justin, however, it was a relief. The door was about to shut on his dream. Now it was open a crack - just enough to see light shining through. It gave him hope that one day he could play in the major leagues. He would get a shot.

``All I wanted was a chance,'' Rethwisch said. ``It didn't matter when I was drafted.''

Pittsburgh's area scout, Leonard Grimes, said he recommended the 6-foot-1, 185-pounder be drafted in the 22nd round. But Pittsburgh's brass makes the final decision based on advice from scouts around the country.

``Only about 1,500 of 15 million ballplayers are drafted,'' Grimes said. ``Everyone out there who has ability is saying give me a chance.''

With relatively few spots available compared to the number of players who want them, being drafted is like winning the lottery. The Rethwisch family certainly approached it with comparable excitement.

At the same time, being drafted in the 50th round hardly will make you a millionaire. Rethwisch signed and received a $2,000 signing bonus. Some late picks get more, but Justin had no bargaining chips.

He batted .380 with 12 doubles and seven triples as a freshman at AVC, earning second-team all-conference honors. However, he was academically ineligible this past year and wasn't certain he would regain eligibility.

``If I was positive I could (be eligible to) play, I probably wouldn't have signed,'' Rethwisch said. ``I would have tried to get more money next year.''

Ready to sign and without any illusions of grandeur as a last-round pick, Rethwisch quickly worked out a deal with the Pirates. He was drafted on a Tuesday, signed by Sunday and in Florida playing for the Pirates' Gulf Coast rookie team the following Tuesday.

He became the first Lancaster High player to make the minor leagues, followed weeks later by former teammate Frankie Rosado, who went to Detroit in the 22nd round.

As a 50th-round pick, Rethwisch certainly doesn't receive preferential treatment. Of course, not many players do.

``It really doesn't matter in the long run if you are picked in the 20th round or the 50th,'' Detroit Tigers scout Dennis Leiberthal said. ``Obviously, players that go really high are going to play every day and get some preferential treatment. The rest of the guys advance based solely on performance.''

Rethwisch has received ample playing time so far as a center fielder and leadoff batter. Pittsburgh seems to be a good organization for him.

``He has the body of a major-league ballplayer and he has tremendous speed,'' Grimes said. ``He has the ability to be a major-league All-Star.''

It's a long way from rookie ball to the major leagues. Few late-round picks have become big-league stars. However, players picked even later than Rethwisch have made the jump.

Earlier this season, pitcher Travis Phelps, an 89th-round pick in 1996, made his debut for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to set a record as the lowest selection ever to play in the majors.

Until 1998, there were no limits on rounds. The draft would end when the last team stopped picking. Now, many teams don't take part in all 50 rounds. In 2000, Philadelphia stopped making picks after 39.

Former Taft High of Woodland Hills and Moorpark College standout Gabe Kapler, now the starting center fielder for the Texas Rangers, is another late-draft success story from the days of infinite picks. Kapler, a 57th-round pick in 1995, shares more than just a position with Rethwisch. Kapler also signed because he wasn't interested in going to school anymore.

``I was ready to go play baseball,'' Kapler said. ``I wasn't a big fan of school. I wasn't ready to be in school, but I was ready to play baseball.''

Kapler spent three years in the minor leagues, less than most late picks. Even nine-time All-Star Piazza spent four years in the minors.

``Once I started playing, I was playing well and was able to stay in the lineup,'' Kapler said. ``I got treated like everyone else.''

Many late-round picks are termed draft-and-follow players. They aren't expected to sign right away, but organizations want to express interest in them and hold their rights until the next draft.

These players usually are out of high school or community college. Since a team's rights to a player expire after the next draft and players at four-year schools can't be drafted until their junior year, it doesn't make sense to follow a player going to a four-year school.

Kapler was a draft-and-follow pick by Leiberthal and the Detroit Tigers (before he was traded to Texas in 1999 as part of the Juan Gonzalez deal). He wasn't expected to sign or he would have been drafted higher. This gave him room to bargain for a $10,000 signing bonus.

Some players are picked late in the draft because they have so many options. Rethwisch probably went late because he had so few.

But at least he was drafted.

Jeff Harris, a former Pierce College shortstop, went undrafted after finishing at a four-year school. But after the 2001 draft, the Cubs, one of the teams that did draft through 50 rounds, realized they still needed a shortstop in rookie ball.

Pierce College coach Bob Lofrano also is a scout for the Cubs. When he heard the organization was looking for a shortstop, he mentioned Harris. The Cubs signed him and shipped him to rookie ball.

``That's 1,500 players and he wasn't drafted,'' Lofrano said. ``That's the hardest route to the big leagues.''

Maybe waiting 1,468 picks isn't so bad after all.

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(color) Justin Rethwisch, who attended Antelope Valley College and Lancaster High, was taken by Pittsburgh with the 1,468th pick in this year's draft.

Alex Diaz/Special to the Daily News