Ten Years Later, He Takes a Major Step : Orioles: Pitcher Jose Mesa, who signed at 15, gets his first major league shutout at 25, holding Angels to seven hits in 7-0 Baltimore victory.

ANAHEIM — Normally, when you get a job at age 15, they hand you an apron, a funny looking paper hat and point you toward the deep fryer.

When Jose Mesa got his teen-age working papers, he was pointed toward a pitching mound in a foreign country.

Mesa was a 15-year-old eighth-grader in the Dominican Republic when Toronto Blue Jay scout Epy Guerrero signed him to a professional baseball contract.

While most of his ball-playing peers were hoping to play American Legion, Mesa had his sights set on the American League.

While most kids his age went off to high school and faced the rigors of math and social studies, Mesa went off to Bradenton, Fla. for his first minor-league assignment and a foreign-language class.

“It was tough when I first came to the United States because I didn’t know any English,” Mesa said. “For two years, I had to go to restaurants where the food was ready and laid out for you and where the club paid in advance for the meals.”

It took a few years, but Mesa was finally able to order off a menu in an American restaurant. It took a lot longer for Mesa to earn big-league meal money in the American League, though.

In six seasons with the Toronto organization, Mesa never pitched above the double-A level. But when he was traded to Baltimore in September of 1987, the Orioles immediately activated him.

Four years--most in the minor leagues--and several arm injuries later, Mesa, who turns 25 this month, is the No. 2 man in the Orioles’ starting rotation and one of the team’s most consistent pitchers.

Monday night, the 6-foot-3, 219-pound right-hander recovered from the effects of a Wally Joyner liner that hit his right ankle in the first inning and threw his first major league shutout to lead the Orioles to a 7-0 victory over the Angels in front of 19,972 in Anaheim Stadium.

Mesa, who complements his lively fastball with a curve, changeup and slider, allowed seven hits, struck out only two but didn’t walk a batter.

The Angels threatened to score only once, when they loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning, but Mesa got Luis Sojo to line to left field to end the inning.

“A lot of people thought we were crazy to put him in the starting rotation because they haven’t heard of him,” Oriole pitching Coach Al Jackson said. “But he has a good arm. As long as it holds up, he’ll be OK.”

That’s been Mesa’s problem in recent years. He twice had surgery to repair the right ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, in July of 1988 and June of 1989.

Mesa pitched only 39 innings in 1988 and ’89 combined and spent most of the 1990 season in the minor leagues. But after being called up to the Orioles last August and losing his first two starts, Mesa won his next three decisions to solidify his position as a starter in 1991.

Mesa’s arm has returned to full strength, and so did the Oriole offense Monday night.

Entering the game, Baltimore had batted .176 (22 for 125) and scored 13 runs in Mesa’s five previous starts. Mesa had a 2-3 record but an impressive 2.87 earned run average. In two of his losses, the Orioles were shut out.

But Baltimore backed Mesa with 10 hits, including home runs by Craig Worthington, Mike Devereaux, Tim Hulett and Cal Ripken, Jr.

“If I get that kind of support, I try to go right at them and throw everything for strikes,” Mesa said. “It makes it easy when you get that kind of support because I felt comfortable out there.”