Landon Powell

Powell shuttled back and forth between Triple-A Sacramento and Oakland as the A's briefly went with Jake Fox as the backup catcher. He didn't flash the occasional power he showed the year prior, taking away any minimal value he had as a second catcher in deep leagues. He's expected to begin the year as the backup to the heavily-used Kurt Suzuki again.

Powell spent the year as the backup catcher to Kurt Suzuki, which doesn't lend itself to much playing time, but he did manage seven homers and seven doubles in 140 at-bats. He was limited at times with various leg injuries, which comes with the territory when you tip the scales the way Powell does. He makes for a decent endgame second catcher in deeper leagues with his modest power, as his poor batting average doesn't come over many at-bats so he doesn't sink you elsewhere. He showed some competency against right-handed pitching (.267/.324/.505 in 101 at-bats), so there's some additional upside here if the A's pick and choose their spots to slide Powell into the lineup.

Powell's recovery from a torn ACL limited him at the start of the 2008 season, but he hit over .240 in only one month the entire season and he's simply lost too much time due to injury to be anything more than a backup down the road. Not exactly known for staying in the best of shape (unless you consider "round"), the damage he could inflict with a major-league per diem is currently immeasurable by current culinary metrics.

Powell has never been able to avoid injuries, and a torn ACL ended his season in early July. His numbers at Double-A Midland (.292/.391/.502) were good, but he's lost too much time to injury to develop into a legit option behind the plate. He's expected to miss part of 2008 as a result of the injury as well, and with Kurt Suzuki well ahead of him there's not a long major league career in Powell's future.

Powell missed the 2005 season with a knee injury and missed some time with shoulder issues this year but still managed to pop 15 homers in 90 games at Single-A Stockton before earning a quick callup to Doulbe-A Midland. At 25 years old to start this season, he can't afford to lose any more development time if he wants to carve out much of a career. He's been older than most for his competition thus far, so we'll see how he handles Double-A. With Kurt Suzuki waiting in the wings and a level ahead of him, he may need a change of scenery.

Powell, the A's first pick in the 2004 draft, missed the entire 2005 season due to a torn knee ligament, but he's expected to be healthy by spring training. He'll likely begin the season at High-A ball.

Selected in the first round by the A's in the 2004 draft, Powell quickly signed a contract and got in some games in the Northwest League. He didn't hit for much power (.383 slugging) but showed an excellent eye at the plate. He should see time at Double-A Midland in 2005, and we should have a better idea of where he fits among John Baker and Jeremy Brown after a full season.

The colegiate catcher from South Carolina has some leadership qualtires and projects as a good receiver in the pros. There questions about his body type and whether he can keep the weight down, but he's an intriguing 2004 first round choice for Oakland, who love his stats.