John Schneider (baseball)


John P. Schneider is an American professional baseball coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. Prior to coaching, Schneider played six seasons as a catcher in the Blue Jays minor league organization.

Playing career

Born in Princeton, New Jersey and raised in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Schneider graduated from Lawrence High School in 1998. He attended the University of Delaware and played college baseball for the Fightin' Blue Hens. In three seasons, he batted.306 with 23 home runs and 139 runs batted in. Schneider was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 24th round of the 2001 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign, and was chosen by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 13th round of the 2002 draft. He was assigned to the Short Season-A Auburn Doubledays for the 2002 season, and hit.240 with two home runs and 11 RBI. The following year, Schneider played for the Class-A Charleston AlleyCats and the Triple-A Syracuse SkyChiefs, and batted.188 with 14 RBI in 59 games.
Schneider played the entire 2004 season with the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays, appearing in 58 games and batting.206 with six home runs and 28 RBI. With Dunedin in 2005, he hit.321 in 22 games and was promoted back to Triple-A Syracuse, but struggled to a.179 average through 34 games with the SkyChiefs. Schneider played at three different minor league levels in 2006, including the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, but was limited to 34 games due to back surgery. He retired after the 2007 minor league season, due to three concussions suffered during the season.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Schneider was hired by the Blue Jays organization as a catching instructor. In 2008, he became the manager of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Blue Jays. Schneider was promoted to manage the Short Season-A Vancouver Canadians on December 1, 2010, and became the youngest manager in team history at 30 years of age. In 2011, he managed the Canadians to a Northwest League championship. Schneider returned to the Gulf Coast League in 2013, and then went back to managing Vancouver in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, he managed the Class-A Lansing Lugnuts, and in 2017, won the first Florida State League championship in the 33-year history of the Dunedin Blue Jays. On January 10, 2018, Schnieder was promoted to manage the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and led the team to an Eastern League championship. At the end of the season, he was named the Eastern League Manager of the Year.
The Blue Jays promoted Schneider to their major league coaching staff before the 2019 season.
He pitched to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. during the 2019 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby.

Personal life

Schneider's brother, Kevin, is the head coach at Immaculata University.