Corey Powell

From BR Bullpen

Corey Steven Powell

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Corey Powell played in the USA, Mexico and Taiwan.

Powell was picked by the Boston Red Sox in the 20th round of the 1988 amateur draft and the Montréal Expos in the 62nd round of the 1989 amateur draft. He made his pro debut with the 1990 GCL Expos, hitting .181/.227/.253 while going 3-1 with a 4.30 ERA as a two-way player.

In '91, Corey was 12-8 with a 3.16 ERA for the Rockford Expos. He tied Doug Bochtler and Tavo Alvarez for the most wins by an Expos farmhand. Powell fell to 3-7, 4.26 for the 1992 West Palm Beach Expos, his last year as a pitcher. Moving to the outfield in 1993, Powell hit .279/.327/.434 with 13 home runs for the Burlington Bees.

The right-handed batter was taken by the Houston Astros in the minor league phase of the 1993 Rule 5 Draft. They sent him to the Osceola Astros, where he struggled at .242/.290/.327 while moving to first base. He led Florida State League first basemen in putouts (1,228), was second in errors (20) and tied Brian Daubach for the most twin killings (127).

Powell then moved on to the independent leagues. In 1995, he hit .344 and slugged .506 for the Duluth-Superior Dukes. He placed fifth in the Northern League in average. The next season, the San Diego native batted .304 and slugged .519 with the Madison Black Wolf. He led the team with 66 runs (3 ahead of former big leaguer Jim Vatcher) and his 17 homers and 63 RBI were both second to Mitch Lyden.

Powell next took his bat to Taiwan, joining the Kaoping Fala. He hit .307/.352/.484 with 25 home runs, 63 runs and 60 RBI in 96 games. He won a Gold Glove Award and joined Yi-Pao Li and Vatcher as the Best Ten picks in the outfield. He was 8th in the Taiwan Major League in average and was third in home runs behind former big leaguers Sam Horn and Lyden.

Powell kept on smacking the ball with the Fala in 1998, hitting .336/.377/.572 with 25 doubles, 25 home runs, 74 RBI and 71 runs in 96 games. He was second in average behind Luis de los Santos and tied Luis Iglesias for third in dingers behind Rod Brewer and de los Santos. His 96 strikeouts set a TML record, not to be broken. He again made the Best Ten, picked along with Ming-Tsu Lu and Sil Campusano.

Corey's third season in the TML looked similar as he again went deep exactly 25 times. He hit .307/.357/.589 with 70 runs and 66 RBI in 81 contests. He was 9th in the TML in average and led in home runs. He joined Chia-Hsien Hsieh and Chu-Ming Lee as the Best Ten outfield picks. He became the only player in the league's six-year history to reach 100 hits three times and also the only one to top 20 home runs three times. More impressively, he did both feats in every year he was in the circuit. Powell also won a Gold Glove and hit nine home runs to win the home run derby before the All-Star Game; it was the only home run derby in TML All-Star Game history.

His 75 home runs in the TML tied Chia-Hsien Hsieh for the all-time league record; Hsieh played five seasons in the league, though, to Powell's three.

Powell next moved on to the Mexican League. He hit .334/.389/.587 with 25 homers and 89 RBI in 90 games for the Mexico City Red Devils and Oaxaca Warriors. He tied for 17th in homers - among those he tied with was old rival de los Santos, also making the trip from Taiwan to Mexico. He tied Oscar Azocar for 19th in RBI. That got him his first look at Organized Baseball in six years. Signed by the Boston Red Sox, he went 1 for 9 with five strikeouts for the Pawtucket Red Sox.

Powell ended up his playing days in 2001 with the Reynosa Broncos, hitting only .220/.282/.341 in 23 games. He ended up with 146 home runs in professional baseball.

Corey then followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a fireman. By age 35, he had achieved his goal, working for the San Miguel fire department.

Sources[edit]

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