HI NOTES: One Tough Schedule, Media Day Whatnot, & Max

STATISTICS

♦ You know it's almost College Baseball Season when you see the First Boyd of Spring, Boyd Nation's 2013 Preseason Intended Strength of Schedule (BoydsWorld.com).  This basically is a calculation of the Strength of Schedule of each team based upon the final ISR numbers at the end of the 2012 season.  Mizzou's overall SoS comes in ranked at 32nd overall, which is pretty tough, but factors in well for the RPI (assuming, of course, a preponderance of W's vs. L's).  MU's non-conference Intended SoS is considerably lower, at 117th.  It should be noted that in this ranking, Missouri comes in with the 7th toughest overall Intended SoS in the SeC (9th in Non-Cofenerence SoS).

2013 MIZZOU BASEBALL

Pitcher of a Horse

♦ Some interesting quotes from Mizzou Baseball Media Day Coverage (mutigers.com)

Scott Sommerfeld: "Honestly you know I've heard a lot of opinions and what not, but I'm just here to play ball. We've got 35 guys fighting for the same goal and I think that's what's important in college baseball."

Dillon Everett, talking about Rob Zastryzny: "Yeah, he's got that swag going into the season which is good"

Rob Zastryzny: "And all of the junior college guys have pretty much stepped up and showed that they're great. Junior college is like the struggle because they don't wash your clothes; they don't treat you like a baseball player. You do everything and they've been through it all so they are ready to come step up and earn their spot and keeps."

Rob Zastryzny, talking about Eric Anderson: "Whatever he is throwing he's just blowing people away. He's a horse up there, that's what I like to call him."

Rob Z again: " I love when we're the underdogs because that's what I've been the entire time. In high school I came from a team that was always supposed to win. And now I'm on a team that's never supposed to win so I've have been on both angles. I would rather be the underdog."

♦ Mizzou baseball full speed ahead, despite devastating Southern Miss. tornado (KBIA Sports Extra)

The tornado touched down on campus in Hattiesburg, Miss., before following a path through a portion of the town. Much of USM’s student body was away from campus due to the Mardi Gras holiday and despite some reported damage to campus buildings, no student injuries have been reported. The school’s athletic facilities were also largely unaffected, and USM has announced that its baseball series with Missouri will go on as scheduled at Pete Taylor Park this weekend.

The Tigers will travel to Hattiesburg on Wednesday as scheduled, but the team is aware that the disaster adds a heavier node to their opening weekend...

MISSOURI BASEBALL IN THE MAJORS

♦ Scherzer healthy, hopeful for long-term deal (mlb.com)

First things first: Max Scherzer's arm is fine. Manager Jim Leyland and Scherzer both said as much. The shoulder issues that hampered him down the stretch last season, they say, are a thing of the past.

"I can tell you this: He's perfectly healthy," Leyland emphasized.

Scherzer's also happy. Nobody had to shout it, but the tone of his conversation on Tuesday morning sounded like somebody in a good place. He could even joke about the best part of his offseason being a ticket out of Cleveland rather than his own vacation in Hawaii...