Boog Powell is already making a name for himself with the Oakland Athletics. Acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a trade for Yonder Alonso, Powell is already showing why the front office had high hopes for him earlier in his career. Powell was dated by the Athletics in 2012 but ended up as part of a deal to acquire Ben Zobrist from the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Seattle Mariners acquired Boog Powell from the Rays and just sent him back to the Oakland Athletics for power-hitting first baseman Yonder Alonso. The Mariners simply had too many young outfielders and felt that Powell was expendable at that point.
Now he is putting up good numbers for the Athletics and making some Mariners fans wonder why the organization gave up on him so quickly.
What has Powell done so far for the A’s?
Boog Powell has now played in 10 games for the Oakland Athletics, finding a way on base in each one of them. Powell has hits in eight of those 10 games, going 12-for-27 at the plate so far. That’s an impressive .444 batting average for him, raising his overall numbers on the season to .302 with the Mariners and Athletics. Toss in the 10 walks that Powell has and he is at a .397 on-base percentage as well.
These numbers are why Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin went with Boog Powell as his leadoff hitter on Wednesday (August 23).
It shows not only that Melvin has faith in him to get on base, but that he feels Powell is already showing signs of becoming the player the team hoped he would be when they drafted him in 2012. If Powell continues to hit this well, he might become a permanent resident in the leadoff spot.
Did the Mariners give up on Powell too early?
The Seattle Mariners and general manager Jerry Dipoto were in a tough spot, as the team needed to add some power hitting and had a depth in the outfield positions. With Mitch Haniger, Ben Gamel, and Guillermo Heredia playing into the long-term plans for the outfield, and veterans Leonys Martin and Jarrod Dyson seeing a lot of playing time, Powell just wasn’t getting the at-bats to develop.
Getting All-Star first baseman Yonder Alonso was just too good to pass up.
For the Oakland Athletics, getting a center fielder that plays well on defense and can get on base is a huge positive, but the fact that he does it for minimum wage made him the perfect fit for the franchise. It is clear that Boog Powell will be given every opportunity to show what he can do and the early results are quite good.
