Dr. Snyderlove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Throw a Ball

Kyle Snyder may not have fond memories of Washington D.C. I've got to think an incident like the one reported in the Herald today has to become an integral part of who you are.

“We went on a field trip in seventh grade, went to the Naval Academy, and I fell off a missile,” Snyder said. “We were doing a photograph and we were trying to get everyone in order, shortest to tallest, and because we were moving around I fell off and fell about 10 feet. My face landed on a railing."

“I got 20 stitches around my lip. I had to wear braces - at that age, it was a disaster - and they took me by ambulance to Walter Reed.”

Kyle Snyder, no. 39

Birth Date: September 9, 1977 in Houston, TX

Height/Weight: 6'8", 220 lbs.

College: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Contract: $835,000 for 1 year

Kyle Snyder pitched 54.3 innings last season. He had a win-loss record of 2-3. He faced 242 batters. He struck out 41 of them, walked 32 of them, intentionally walked 2 of them, and hit 6 of them with a pitch. He gave up 45 hits and 29 runs (23 of them earned.) Seven of those hits were home runs. He threw 4 wild pitches. His ERA (3.81) wouldn't be bad if he was a starter. His Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched is getting a little high at 1.417.

He's got a fastball in the low 90s, a good changeup, and an average curve ball. He's also had four major arm surgeries (twice for the elbow and twice for the shoulder.) His last shoulder surgery was performed on Schill's recommendation by Schill's surgeon in 2004.

He certainly doesn't seem like a bad guy. He had a string of bad luck and was mis-handled medically early in his career but he just wants to play ball. If his shoulder continues to hold, I would expect him to have a good season this year.

Kyle Snyder Agrees (I tried to come up with something creative. I really did.)

It must be hard to be Kyle "Bron-! Oh." Snyder. Not as hard as it would be if you weren't making $835,000 a year but hard nontheless.