A little about me...

Hi everyone,

My name is Brandon Snyder and I am a corner infielder with the Baltimore Orioles. I was drafted in 2005 in the first round (13th overall) of the major league baseball first year player draft after receiving a full scholarship to Louisiana State University. I was born in Las Vegas Nevada and now reside in Northern Virginia. My father Brian Snyder played Professional baseball and I grew up to love the game. He was a left handed pitcher in the Athletics, Mariners, Braves, and Padres organizations, just to name a few. My mother Linda is my heart and sole and keeps me very well rounded. I also have a sister Sarah and twin brothers Matt and Mike who are playing baseball for Ole Miss.

In the off season I try to get outdoors as much as possible and hunting and fishing are my true passions. I try to spend at least four or five days in the deer wood if my workout schedule permits. And yes I'm still searching for that monster buck! In November of every year (excluding this year) I take part in a charity called fishing with the pros. It's a charity organization based out of Indiana that helps underprivileged, abused, and kids that are headed down the wrong paths by cleaning up there living situations and bringing faith in God and people back into their lives. It's a fishing tournament in witch you fish with bass fishing professionals on their boats on some of the best lakes in the country. In '06 I got to share the experience with my father and actually won the biggest fish award.

Another thing I do in the off season is work for my father at his baseball camps and talk to kids of all ages, including high school baseball teams, about what it takes to have success on and off the baseball field. I truly believe that what you do off the field directly correlates to how you perform on it. And also to be a good person first and a baseball player second.
 
 As I am sure you know, as I write I am in Surprise, Arizona, playing for the Surprise Rafters. Our team is made up of players from the Indians, Dodgers, Rangers, Royals, and of course Orioles. It's a great experience to meet new players and get to see how they are as people not just as players. Many of the players that are here I played against this year and we get to talk about things that happened during the year. One player I'm glad I got to meet is Stephen Head who is an outfielder with the Indians. We have been trading hunting stories for a few days now and hopefully will be able to set up a trip for next off season. Another is Beau Jones. We were supposed to play at LSU together before we both were selected to play professional baseball. While I'm here in Arizona I'm living with Nolan Reimold and Matt Wieters in a beautiful house on a golf course. I love to cook and have taken full advantage of our grill. I lived with Wieters this past year and have known Reimold since 2005 when we were both drafted.

Our facilities are UNBELIEVABLE! Our home field is the big league spring training facility of the Rangers and Royals and it is top shelf. It definitely makes you feel like you're in the big leagues when you put on the big league uniform and walk out on a big league field like that.

 Last year I got to play in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League. It was a great experience as you could imagine. However this is something else. To be able to be a part of something like this with this caliber or players is awesome. I went into this year hoping I would have the opportunity to play out here and it has not disappointed at all. The people out here are amazing and really supportive of the baseball and the players. Since I have been in pro ball I have always looked at the players that have came here and gone to the big leagues and it is unbelievable. This is a tremendous opportunity and I am looking for to the rest of the season. Thanks for reading and hope you check in next week.