Career
Powell made his MLB debut for the Montreal Expos in 1998 and played for them until 2000. In 2001, he joined the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in Japan"s Nippon Professional Baseball and pitched for several different teams in Japan through 2008. In January 2009, he returned to United States and signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Powell was drafted out of high school by the Montreal Expos in the 4th round of the 1994 Major League Baseball draft and assigned to the Rookie-level Gulf Coast Expos.
In 9 starts for them in 1994, he went 2-2 with a 2.93 European Research Area and 36 strikeouts. In 1995 with the Low-A Vermont Expos, he made 15 starts and had an European Research Area of 4.34.
Powell spent all of 1996 with the Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds where he went 12-9 with a 3.02 European Research Area, enough to earn a promotion to High-A West Palm Beach to begin 1997. With West Palm Beach, he recorded 121 strikeouts and a 3.02 European Research Area. In 1998 with the Double-A Harrisburg Senators, he went 9-7 with an European Research Area of 3.00 and was promoted to the major leagues for the first time after the All-Star Break.
Powell made his major league debut on July 23, 1998, but lost despite giving up only 1 run in 6 innings.
He made 6 more appearances for the Expos and ended the season with a major league European Research Area of 7.92. He began 1999 with Triple-A Ottawa and posted a 2.97 European Research Area in 16 starts. This earned him a midseason promotion, and he spent the rest of the season in the majors.
He made 17 starts for the Expos with perhaps his best being 8 shutout innings against the San Diego Padres on August 9.
In 2000, he struggled in both the majors and minors. With Ottawa, Powell went 5-13 with a 6.91 European Research Area in 25 games.
With Montreal, he went 0-3 with a 7.96 European Research Area in 11 games. He became a free agent after the season, and signed with the San Diego Padres.
Powell was assigned to the minor leagues to begin 2001, but after going 4-2 with a 1.59 European Research Area and a.77 WHIP in 11 starts, he went to Japan to play.
He signed with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball where after a shaky first season, he became one of NPB"s most successful pitchers. He played for the Buffaloes through 2004, winning 17, 14, and 8 games in his last three seasons with them. In 2005, the Buffaloes merged with the Orix Bluewave to form the Orix Buffaloes.
With Yomiuri for two seasons, he went only 10-12 after missing most of the 2007 season.
In 2008, he joined the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, but went 2-6 in 12 starts. In January 2009, Powell left Japan and signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He is currently the pitching coach for the Greensboro Grasshoppers.