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Blasted computer has been impeding my progress for three days now. Just so you reader’s know, I’ve written the AL East first basemen thing twice so far, and both times it was lost somewhere on my computer so no find nor search function can find it.

Drat.

Anyway, sit back for a second, gentle reader, and think about the players that you like. Of course there are some starts, like Pedro Martinez if you love pitching, Barry Bonds if you like hitting, or Derek Jeter if you like guys diving meekly as a ball bounces into left center field. But what about the lesser-known players. The kind of guy that if you asked Joe Fan about him, he would say “I dunno, he’s that dude that plays for that team.” An example of this from real life would be the John C. Reilly Phenomenon.

Before “Chicago” came out, fans of Reilly knew he was in “Hoffa”, and “Boogie Nights”, and “The Thin Red Line”, but Joe Movie Fan wouldn’t know who he was. Maybe that he was Dirk Diggler’s friend in Boogie Nights.

My point in all this is that there are fans out there that like bizarre players. They like the Ben Webers, the Morgan Ensbergs, and the Augie Ojedas. Personally, I have a whole list of guys I like for no real reason. It’s usually guys that are underrated by traditional baseball fans, or guys that do something unheralded well. Back in October/November, I professed my love of Mark Bellhorn. Keith Foulke was on this list before he blew up and became a Proven Closer. Mike Cameron is on the list. Carlos Beltran is probably vastly underrated by people, even though fans recognize he is a star. Mike Timlin. Dmitri Young. Octavio Dotel. People like that.

The criteria is usually a guy that is fun to watch.

Today, I introduce you to Brian Schneider.

Schneider does one thing really well, and that is play defense. If you watch him play catcher, everything is very fluid, and exact. It’s fun to watch. If I was Tom Emanski, I would stop fooling around with people like Fred McGriff and get Schneider to teach catching technique. Generally, he is the receiver that Jason Varitek gets credit for being, combined with a laser throwing arm.

With the stick, he’s generally alright, but he’s a better hitter then the man he replaces, Michael Barrett. His batting eye is respectful for a part-time catcher, posting a .069 IPD, and he can very occasionally knock an extra base hit. His ISlug is .164, and his Secondary Average is a not-to-shabby .249 (.269 in 2003).

Blah blah blah, is what your thinking. I don’t care. He’s a fun guy to watch catch, and he’s not completely lost with the bat. Schneider is entering his age 27 season. Keep an eye on him in the case you might catch an Expos game on ESPN Du Sport.