Landon Reed Powell was signed by A's scout Michael Holmes...was selected with the first round pick of the Boston Red Sox as compensation for the loss of free agent Keith Foulke...graduated from Apex (NC) High School in 2000 and was a second team Baseball America High School All-America selection in 2000 after leading his team to the North Carolina 4-A State Championship...played American Legion baseball...attended the University of South Carolina...helped the Gamecocks to three straight College World Series appearances from 2002-04, earning CWS All-Tournament honors in 2002...played for the USA National Team in 2002...was an All-SEC selection in 2003 and

Batted .230 with 15 home runs and 53 RBI in 88 games in his first full season at Triple-A Sacramento...added 63 walks for a .360 on-base percentage...the RBI and walks were career highs...tied for fourth in the A's farm system and led the River Cats in walks...his batting average included a .276 mark against left-handed pitching and .211 against right-handers...had six home runs in 87 at bats against lefties and nine home runs in 213 at bats against righties...batted .254 with runners in scoring position but that mark jumped to .344 with RISP and two outs...was 2 for 5 with a grand slam and 11 RBI with the bases loaded...batted under .200 in each of the first two months of the season as he hit .182 in April and .174 in May...then hit .241 in June before batting a season best .310 in July...added five home runs, 13 RBI and 20 walks in 22 games in July for a .457 on-base percentage...hit seven of his 15 home runs in the seventh inning or later...tossed out 21 of 55 (38.2%) attempted base stealers, which was the second best percentage in the Pacific Coast League...tied for the lead among PCL catchers with nine errors... was rated as the Best Defensive Catcher in Baseball America's Best Tools survey for A's prospects following the season...hit in every spot in the order except first and second...batted .186 in 18 games batting cleanup and .324 in 18 games batting fifth.