Prep Baseball Report

2006 PBR Illinois POY Connor Powers Transforms Into Long Drive Champion



By Ryan Quigley
Illinois Scouting Director

Connor Powers, the former Prep Baseball Report 2006 Illinois Player of the Year at Benet Academy in Lisle, has qualified for the 2014 RE/MAX Long Drive Championship as one of eight finalists and will compete for the world title and a $250,000 first-place prize on the Golf Channel in November.

Powers had a storied prep career at Benet, compiling a .408 career batting average with 26 career home runs, and 171 RBI, good for third-most in IHSA history.

The accolades didn’t stop there as the right-handed power hitting corner infielder hit .333 over a four-year career in the SEC at Mississippi State with 54 career home runs, 52 doubles, and 187 RBI. After turning down the Dodgers in the 11th round as a junior, Powers was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 21st round of the 2010 MLB Draft.

One year after hitting .338 in the Midwest League for the Fort Wayne Tin Caps, Powers was released by the San Diego Padres. It’s funny how paths cross in the baseball community, as I remember a young freshman hitter from Benet Academy nearly taking off my head with a line drive up the middle as a senior pitcher at Joliet Catholic back in 2003.

Fast forward nine years, Powers and I were teammates at Class A-Advanced Lake Elsinore in the Padres farm system. In 2013, we were actually released on the same day towards the end of spring training. I vividly remember playing catch with him in a city park outside of Peoria, Arizona; keeping our arms in shape in case another team called before our flights took us back to Chicago and the real world. We talked about what the future may hold, and it was evident back then, no matter what path he took, Powers was going to be successful, whether it be in professional sports or the business world.

As a player, Powers was already a budding entrepreneur, gaining YouTube notoriety for his “Baseball Trick Shots” video, garnering over 500,000 hits on the video sharing site. Click Here to watch the video that ended up seeing airtime on ESPN’s “First Take” morning show. Connor took what he had learned as a player, and turned it into a successful company focusing on bat speed: Dead Red Hitting.

While hitting golf balls one day at a local driving range, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound power hitter made the transition from putting the hurt on a Rawlings baseball, to punishing a Titleist. Connor was recruited by the Catalyst Long Drive (LD) Team and in less than seven months has seen his club head speed increase thanks to an underload system of lightweight training clubs. The system, based out of Catalyst’s downtown Chicago Performance Center, incorporates similar principles to what Powers used to increase bat speed as a player.

In a short amount of time, Powers' club speed went from 133 mph to nearly 150 mph. For comparison, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy both have clubhead speeds in the 120 mph range. His ball speed has reached up to 223 mph (Woods is around 180).

The former Cape-Cod League summer All-Star is no stranger to long distance-type competitions, as he won the 2009 Cape-Cod League Home Run Derby at Fenway Park.

Powers qualified for the finals with a massive 402-yard-drive (McIlory averages 310.1 yards). He will be appearing on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive, Golf Central, and Golf Academy shows. He’s attributed some of his success to the brand new Brute Driver by Mutant Golf, and plays a 3.5 degree head with a House of Forged shaft during competition, which has helped reduce the spin on his ball, and increase distance.

October is Long Drive Month on the Golf Channel. Airing Oct. 14, 21 and 28, the first three episodes of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship will feature action from the competition in Mesquite. The live finals air on Nov. 4 at 7 PM PST.

For more information about the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship and Long Drivers of America, visit http://www.longdrivers.com or contact Long Drivers of America directly, at 682.549.2105. For more information about Catalyst Golf Performance and the Catalyst Long Drive Team, visit http://www.catalystgolfperformance.com, or contact Mike Napoleon at 224.619.8537, [email protected]. For more information about SuperSpeed Golf, visit http://www.superspeedgolf.com

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