Powell earns promotion
Herschel Mack Powell IV was batting ninth and playing center field in the A’s original lineup Friday night against the Orioles before he got scratched because of an illness.
OK, he’s much better known as Boog Powell, and no, he’s not the longtime Baltimore first baseman. We’ll get to how Herschel Mack Powell IV became Boog Powell in a moment.
Early Friday afternoon, Oakland announced it had recalled Powell and pitcher Michael Brady from Triple-A Nashville. The A’s optioned outfielders Jaycob Brugman and Mark Canha to the Sounds.
Oakland reacquired Powell in the Yonder Alonso deal with Seattle on Sunday. Powell, who bats and throws left-handed, was the A’s 20th-round choice in 2012. They sent him to Tampa Bay in January 2015 in the trade that brought Ben Zobrist to Oakland.
Listed at 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, Powell made his bigleague debut with the Mariners on April 29. The 24-year-old went 7-for-36 (.194) for the Mariners. He was hitting .340 in 206 at-bats with Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma.
Asked to compare himself to a current major-leaguer, Powell mentioned the Yankees’ Brett Gardner.
“He plays the game with heart, emotion and he’s always running 100 percent — and that’s what I try to do,” Powell said. “I don’t have the power. I don’t have a lot of the things that a lot of the big guys have, so I’ve got to provide the small game, the bunting, getting on base and making the catches.”
A’s manager Bob Melvin said he has heard that Powell is aggressive in the outfield, and Melvin appreciates that. Melvin praised Brugman’s offense (.266, three homers) in his two-month stint with Oakland, but suggested the BYU alum could be more aggressive in center field.
For the near term, look for Powell and Rajai Davis to platoon in center, with Powell facing right-handed pitchers and Davis lefties. Davis replaced Powell in Friday’s lineup.
Powell is thankful simply for the opportunity.“This is where it all started for me,” he said, “so this is like family. I’m just really excited to get it going.” Now to the name saga. “When I was a kid,” said Powell, who grew up in Orange County, “they called my grandpa Herschel. They called my dad Mack, and I needed a name. So, I went by ‘Little Mack’ when I was a kid.”
When “Little Mack” was about 5 or 6, his dad started calling him Boog. Said Powell: “I hated it, personally.”
By his senior year at Mission Viejo High, the name Boog had stuck with Powell, and he had embraced it.
“I don’t like being called Herschel,” he said. “I don’t mind it; some buddies call me Hersch, but I like Boog.”
And Boog Powell holds a special place in Coliseum history. As A’s broadcaster Ken Korach noted, John Wesley Powell hit the first homer in the park, for the Orioles off Oakland’s Lew Krausse on April 17, 1968.