By Jason Kendall FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW BRADENTON, Fla. - This weekend, I'm playing in a foreign city. But where you won't find me anytime soon is playing a foreign position. All I heard this week was how I'm going to become a second baseman at some point in my career. Let me clear the air on a few things. I would love to play second base, but only if it would enable me to play 162 games a year and get me about 650 plate appearances. If I could catch 125 games and play the rest at second base, I would do it. Do I think I can play second? Yeah, although I obviously would need some work. Do I want to? Not now. Not now at all. I still like everything about catching. So, how far am I away from being a second baseman? I signed a six-year contract extension to be the catcher of the Pirates. Maybe after the six years are over, I'll think about it. However, at some point in the next two or three years if my knees start hurting, you never know what might occur. If that happens, making the move would be better for my career. It's funny how all the talk started. During batting practice, I sometimes take ground balls to give guys like Pat Meares and Warren Morris a rest. I'm not the only one who does it. Mike Williams does it, too, but you don't hear anybody talk about him becoming a second baseman. I must say that it's a good workout. It's great for your legs to go take ground balls for 20 minutes. It really kicks your butt. But the next thing you know, I'm being called the next Craig Biggio. It started out like a high school rumor. You tell one person, and the next thing you know it's gone around the whole school and everyone knows about it. Someone saw me taking ground balls, and pretty soon everyone in the media is asking me about it. It's funny how fast that stuff spreads. I got a kick out of the whole thing, to be honest with you. And I'm going to run with it for a while because I get a kick out of watching everyone make a big deal out of it. But as far as the people back in Pittsburgh are concerned, I'm happy as a catcher. Maybe in a couple of years we'll see what happens. I'm doing this column before we leave for Mexico City, so I'll fill you in on what happens next week. We had a meeting Wednesday, and it sounds like we're going to a war zone. It doesn't sound very appealing, although it will be great for baseball and the fans in Mexico City. From a player's standpoint, you just want to make sure you're safe. They told us to watch what we drink, watch what we eat, where we can and can't go. Right now, I'm a little iffy about the whole thing and I know a lot of other players are, too. Another thing we did this week was hold our NCAA Tournament drawing. I'm not a big basketball fan, but I like March Madness because you see all these college guys busting their butts with their seasons on the line. I like to see the upsets and the underdog teams go far. That's especially true this year because I ended up with plenty of underdog teams. Keith Osik and I teamed up and took six teams in the draw. We ended up with Fresno State, Southern Cal, Gonzaga, Eastern Illinois, Hofstra and Maryland. I guess that means it's Maryland or bust - unless I can get an underdog to step up. The best thing about the tournament is you never know what's going to happen. A team like Hofstra could come out of the blue and do something. I've never heard of Hofstra, but I've got 'em. What I don't like is that the manager got Duke. I think something is fishy. When your manager gets Duke and a lot of the coaches get top seeds, it makes you think the pool is fixed. I walked into the clubhouse Thursday morning and saw "McClendon-Duke" on the board and it made me wonder. The thing is, you can't say anything because he's the skipper. Hopefully, somebody knocks him off. Somebody like Maryland. Pirates catcher Jason Kendall is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's guest columnist during spring training.