Powell’s Career Takes Detour to Angels

Not too many folks go to Sioux Falls, S.D., which is “two miles south of nowhere,” says one aspiring Angel player, to be discovered.

But when you don’t get drafted after a superb college baseball career, slow-pitch softball doesn’t quite cut it, and you’re not ready to give up the game you’ve thrived on your entire life, you go to such extremes.

Chris Powell did, and the former Edison High and Cal State Fullerton standout finally has something to show for it--a contract guaranteeing a spot this season on the Angels’ Class-A team at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the possibility of a major league roster spot as a replacement player.

“Baseball is a weird game--you have to keep playing because you never know,” said Powell, an outfielder who helped Fullerton reach the College World Series championship game in 1992. “I never got the breaks, and I thought I’d get lost in the Northern League. I never thought I’d sign with the Angels.”

But here he is, in the Gene Autry Park clubhouse, pulling an Angel cap over his head. And there he goes to the field, getting instruction from Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann and such coaches as Rod Carew and Rick Burleson.

“This is the first time I’ve ever worn an Angel hat,” said Powell, who joined the team for full-squad workouts Wednesday. “I grew up a St. Louis Cardinal fan because of the way they played, with a lot of hit and run plays and bunts.”

Powell is sort of the embodiment of replacement baseball, a player whose gritty style owners are counting on to attract--and maintain--fan interest.

His trademark play at Fullerton was a push bunt between the mound and first base, diving into the bag ahead of the throw. He had no fear in center field, making numerous diving catches throughout the 1992 season.

The speedy left-hander hit .393 with 45 runs and succeeded on 18 of 22 stolen-base attempts as a Titan in 1992. He hit second in a lineup that featured Phil Nevin, college player of the year and the No. 1 overall draft pick, and fourth-round pick Jason Moler.

Powell, now 6 feet and 185 pounds, reminded many of a young Lenny Dykstra. But every round of the 1992 draft went by without Powell being selected.

“We worked as hard as we could to convince people he deserved an opportunity to play pro ball,” said George Horton, Fullerton associate head coach. “I couldn’t figure for the life of me why no one would give him a job, because I could see him being a big-league player with the tools he has.

“He hustles his rear off, he gets on base, he’s a good outfielder . . . those are the things that are real conducive to playing every day.”

Scouts apparently didn’t believe Powell, 26, had the size or power to be a pro outfielder.

“Does that mean if Pete Rose were in college today, would he not get a chance to play pro ball because he wasn’t 6-3?” Horton said.

Snubbed by the pros, Powell kicked around Orange County for about a year, playing in a Sunday baseball league and a Fullerton slow-pitch softball league, where he once hit 15 home runs in a 10-game season.

Then he attended a 300-player, cattle-call tryout at Pepperdine for the independent Northern League, which began play in 1993. He got a contract offer from the Sioux Falls Canaries.

He made $600 a month that first season and hit .302, adapting to a climate he called “mosquito heaven” and 14-hour bus rides to Thunder Bay, Canada.

Powell returned to Sioux Falls in 1994 with a raise to $850 a month--”I was living real high then,” he said--and got bumped to $1,050 a month soon after the season started. He finished as the league’s batting champion with a .357 average.

That caught the attention of the Angels, who signed Powell last November to a Class-A contract. Powell has agreed to become a replacement player, but if major leaguers return, he’ll have the chance to impress the Angels with his blue-collar approach at Cedar Rapids.

“I’m going to play the hard game, hustle everything out,” Powell said. “Most guys here will do the same thing. It may not be high-caliber, major-league ball, but it will be exciting.”