"I think I could cover more ground with just those two than any three outfielders other teams use," said Altobelli, who compared the 5-11, 170-pound Powell (hardly similar to his namesake and former Baltimore Orioles first baseman) to Lenny Dykstra.
Powell, the projected leadoff hitter, bats left-handed, while Nehrir bats right-handed, providing a platoon opportunity similar to that in right field, with Bynum and freshman lefty Bijan Rademacher, who redshirted at Cal State Fullerton in 2011.
"Its nice to have some righty-lefty options," Altobelli said. "If teams are going to stack left-handers against us, I can flip the lineup to right-handers and be OK."
Most expect OCC, second in he OEC last season to Santa Ana, to be better than OK this spring.
"Our guys have been great during the fall about working out and buying into our team concept," Altobelli said. "But they've got to continue to do that. They've got to understand that there are going to be a lot of good players sitting on the bench who have never sat the bench in their whole life."
barry.faulkner@latimes.com
Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5
