Photo, bio, and scouting report courtesy SoxProspects.com

Name: Kade Keowen
DOB: April 18, 1986
Birthplace: Baton Rouge, LA
Size: 6'6", 230 lbs
Bats: Right Throws: Right
College: LSU-Eunice (2006/7 MVP)
High School: Central HS (LA)

Draft History:
2007 in the 9th round by the Boston Red Sox (BA #196)
2004 in the 19th round by the Kansas City Royals

2008 SoxProspects Scouting Report: Keowen is a big, tall centerfielder with five tool potential. Phenomenal athlete. Top line power potential. The ball really jumps off his bat and has a great sound when he makes solid contact. Very good bat speed, but his swing is really long at this point. Great speed, especially for his size. Slightly above average arm. His approach at the plate is raw, but his ability to make contact needs improvement. Also in need of improvement with his glovework, but the potential is there. Keowen struggled to adjust to pro pitching in his first season at Lowell.

Scouting Report: Keowen is a big, tall centerfielder with five tool potential. Phenomenal athlete. Top line power potential. Great speed, especially for his size. Above average arm. His approach at the plate is raw, but his ability to make contact is improving and his bat speed is decent. Has yet to face top rate pitching on a regular basis. Keowen is a big, tall centerfiel

PGCrosschecker's Allen Simpson: "Though not a true draft-and-follow, Keowen is symbolic of the improvement that a player can make after a year in junior college. He played sparingly in two years at Louisiana State but has blossomed this spring at LSU-Eunice, the 2006 Division II Junior College World Series champion. Though still somewhat raw because of two years of relative inactivity, he has displayed legitimate five-tool ability after getting the opportunity to play every day after transferring to LSU-Eunice after the fall semester."

Jim Callis: "...he's already 21 after not playing for two years at LSU (including one redshirt year) before going to LSU-Eunice JC. He's a tremendous athlete, a great gamble (he's raw) to take in the ninth round..."

SoxProspects.com Player Page

SoSHWiki Page

Profile from mvn.com's Brandon Magee

Kade Keowen got his first three hits as a professional baseball player tonight (his second game with Lowell), going 3/5 with two doubles and a strikeout. Playing in LF, he also threw a runner out at home for his first professional assist. Keowen scored all three times he got on base.

Box Score

Kade left the July 5th game after one at-bat. According to a poster on soxprospects.com here, he has a strained oblique and he himself does not think it is serious. Unless he makes a pinch hitting appearance tonight, he will have missed three games so far.

His line, up to and including the at-bat in which he injured himself (in his 6th game), 300/318/400 in 20 ABs. He's walked once and stuck out 4 times.

Keowen returned last night (7/22) after missing 16 games due to the previously-mentioned oblique injury. He went 0 for 2 (both swinging strikeouts), but did draw three walks in a 1-0 Spinners victory.

Kade Keowen hit his first home run as a professional on August 5, off Collin Mahoney of the Oneonta Tigers.

Through 8/7 (21 G, 81 AB) Kade has still not shown all that much: .235 BA, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 6 BB vs 21 K, .300 OBP / .358 SLG for a .658 OPS.

Through his first 103 AB, Kade has a line of 204/259/311/570, with 6 BB vs 28 Ks. He's got 8 doubles and only 1 HR. His numbers are dropping fast, he's gone 3 for his last 29, striking out 8 times and not walking once during that stretch.

Kade is going to have to be a patient follow. Hopefully he comes a little faster than Engel given his age, but I'm taking that mindset with him.

Thanks for keeping up the AAP file Zennla, he is an exciting kid.

I was kind of hopeful during that 3-walk game, but that comprises exactly 1/2 of his walks so far. I haven't checked the box, but I suspect it was a lot more driven by the pitcher than the hitter in that case.

And you're welcome. The system is bigger than just Ellsbury and the Buchholz and for better or for worse, Kade's out there every day working to try to make it as a professional baseball player for the Red Sox. I'm glad to be able to follow him and to pull for him.

Coming down the home stretch of the Spinners' season, Kade hasn't been getting much playing time. Not sure if it is because of injury, lack of production, or the one turning into the other. Another strong CF prospect Che-Hsuan Lin has pretty much played every game since coming up from the GCL and pushed Kade out of the lineup.

Kade's last game was 8/31, there are three more contests for Lowell, not enough time for Kade to measurably improve his season. His line through 140 AB is 200/248/300/548. He's striking out in 30% of his PA, with little power to show for it (1 HR, 11 2B). Injury or not, he's done little to deserve a promotion to full-season Greenville, so I expect to see him in XST to start the year.

One more update after 9/7 to close out the 2007 book on him.

Kade Keowen finished his rookie season for Lowell on September 7, going 2 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout and scoring once.

His final line for 2007 was 207/263/303/566. I'm sure this was pretty disappointing for him, but its been a long season (starting in January, I think), and he had to be worn down, and the oblique injury down the stretch sure didn't help. Hopefully he can rest up, get healthy, possibly go to instructionals and show us what he's got in XST/Lowell next year.

Kade has started his second season of professional baseball with the Lowell Spinners.

He played in the season opener in LF and went 1/3 with 2RBI on a single. He struck out once, swinging.

Cem21 of soxprospects provided a 1st-hand report, saying "Keowen still has a pretty long swing. On his 1 K, he didn't really cut it down at all, but on his 2 RBI single he was able to fight off a pitch inside and chop it up the middle."

After his first 56 ABs of the 2008 season at Lowell, Kade is hitting 250/276/321/597. His BB/K is 2/16, and oddly enough for someone of his size has no home runs to show for it...just two doubles and a triple on the season. He has played in 16 of 37 games, splitting time in LF with CFO.

On a positive note, in his last 10 games he's gone 11 for 34, though he has 10 Ks to go with that. Kade's got a lot of work to do if he wants to justify moving to a full-season team next year, here's hoping he can make some consistent contact and cut down on those Ks.

Though not exactly lighting the world on fire with his bat, Kade has been promoted to Lancaster to finish out the 2008 season.

Through 33 games, his final line at Lowell was 239/294/325/618. Still no home runs, though he has walked a bit more so far this year than last.