Topic: Landon Powell

Landon Reed Powell (born March 19, 1982, in Raleigh, North Carolina) is a catcher and first baseman for the Oakland Athletics.

Powell attended the University of South Carolina. In 2002, his first season playing for them, he had a .292 batting average with 12 home runs and was part of the team that went to the College World Series. They went all the way to the finals and lost to the Texas Longhorns. Powell continued to play for the University of South Carolina and was third on the team in batting average in 2003 (.339) and 2004 (.328). Both those years, he helped his team to the playoffs, but did not get as far as the first time.

Powell led Apex High School in Apex, North Carolina to the 2000 4-A state championship as a junior. Because he was already 18 years old, he was eligible to enter the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft and did so. However, he went undrafted because his agent, Scott Boras, didn't inform teams he was available. This made Powell a free agent, but he chose to attend college after failing to receive an acceptable offer from an MLB club. This loophole in the drafting system was later closed due to this incident and one a year later involving current Detroit Tigers pitcher Jeremy Bonderman.