WRIGHT CHOICE NOT FOR HUTCHINSON.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

Chad Hutchinson always has had a fertile imagination. But he wouldn't have had to squint too hard at his television screen Sunday to picture himself in Jaret Wright's shoes.

Hutchinson is an aggressive, hard-throwing, right-handed pitcher. Like Wright.

Hutchinson was selected in the first round of the baseball draft after a sterling high school career in Southern California. Like Wright.

Wright, the 21-year-old rookie pitcher for Cleveland who started Game 7 of the World Series against Florida, was a senior at Anaheim's Katella High in 1994 when Hutchinson earned CIF Player of the Year honors in baseball after posting a 12-2 record and 1.38 ERA as a junior at San Diego's Torrey Pines High.

That year, Wright was drafted 10th overall by Cleveland. The following year Hutchinson was the 26th player taken. He went to Atlanta, which succumbed to the Marlins in the National League Championship Series earlier this month.

Wright is 3-0 in his last five starts.

Hutchinson is 2-2.

But comparing their records is like comparing baseballs and footballs.

While Wright was playing out a school boy's dream Sunday, Hutchinson was dealing with a scholar-athlete's mundane realities. The 6-foot-5 quarterback was hunkered down in his dorm room at Stanford, studying for three midterms and trying not to let his mind wander to his next test on the football field, against UCLA on Saturday.

Hutchinson, 20, threw a wicked curve at the knees of the stereotype of the short-sighted, greenback-gluttonous jock when he eschewed a $1.5-million contract offer from the Braves as an 18-year-old fresh out of high school to play football and baseball for the Cardinal.

The only time Hutchinson wishes he could have that pitch back is when he's fumbling through his pockets trying to scrape together enough quarters to do his laundry.

``So true,'' Hutchinson laughed after a football practice before the start of the fall term.

He may be broke, but he professes to be richer for his college experience.

``It's been the best decision I've ever made,'' Hutchinson said. ``What I've encountered at Stanford is priceless. There are so many amazing people here, whether it's in music, academics, athletics. It's really nice because you don't ever get caught up in yourself.''

Next spring, Hutchinson will have no choice but to direct his gaze inward. He'll have to weigh the hits he is taking by staying in college - to his pocketbook and on the field, in the collapsing pocket - against the value of one or two more seasons of college football and an undergraduate degree.

Hutchinson, who has a record of 15-6 in two years as a starter on the diamond and an 11-8 mark in almost two full years as a starter on the gridiron, will be eligible for the amateur baseball draft next June.

The consensus around campus is that the Cardinal's remaining games of the season - against the Bruins, USC, Washington State and Cal - will be the final games of Hutchinson's football career. After all, a young guy who throws a 96 mph fastball can go far - and fast - in the pitching-thin, expansion-rich major leagues.

If he stays at Stanford, Hutchinson can count on more games like the one the Cardinal (4-3, 2-2) played against Oregon State in September when he was sacked seven times in a 27-24 win and felt lucky to escape with all of his body parts intact.

Hutchinson is intoxicated with both sports, so the decision to go off one cold turkey is not one he is in any hurry to make.

``It'll be interesting,'' he said. ``It's something exciting to face. It's not weighing on me because the options I have are wonderful. Right now I'm so busy I don't even think about it.''

Hutchinson has breathed baseball since he was no taller than a bat. His mother remembers bribing him with a game of catch to get him to take a nap when he got home from preschool. Hutchinson was a freshman in high school when he started playing football and a redshirt freshman at Stanford when he started to regard it as more than a passing fancy.

He can thank the Bruins for opening his eyes to the possibilities. Last November, Hutchinson completed all seven passes he threw during a last-gasp, 80-yard drive that culminated with a scoring pass to Brian Manning in the final minute that gave the Cardinal a 21-20 win over UCLA.

``To come back and win the game like that, I think I kind of began to understand what I needed to do as a leader of the team,'' said Hutchinson, who went on to complete 65 percent of his passes in the Cardinal's final four games, all wins, including a 38-0 drubbing of Michigan State in the Sun Bowl.

Hutchinson, who has thrown for 1,635 yards and nine touchdowns this year, has a great arm and his decision-making on the run is improving every week. But his greatest strength may be his vision. He always has seen well beyond the field's boundaries.

During the drive home from preschool, Hutchinson would entertain his mother with detailed descriptions of the lavish treehouse that existed only in his imagination. He'd weave stories out of nothing. Many years later, when he informed his parents he was turning down the Braves' contract offer to attend college, they weren't surprised.

``He always has just been able to visualize the bigger picture,'' Martha Hutchinson said. ``He just has an open mind for adventure.''

In another era, Hutchinson would have been called enlightened. Today he's considered overextended. The real pity is that he'll probably have to close the door on one dream to find another.