HI NOTES: Tough Row, Rash Rehash, The Rest of Sal's Story

♦ Steele back as Tigers' dual threat (Columbia Tribune)

Baseball boiled down to its simplest form is a one-on-one confrontation — pitcher versus hitter.

In that situation, Missouri sophomore Keaton Steele believes he has the advantage. Because of his role with the Tigers, Steele can stay one step ahead of his opponent.

In his first season with the Tigers, Steele has evolved from an everyday player who occasionally pitches to a pitcher who occasionally hits to Missouri's first true dual power threat since Ryan Stegall in the mid-1990s...

♦ Outfielder says goodbye to Missouri baseball (The Maneater)

...With the extra free time, Belfonte, a communications major, said he’s been focused on trying to get an internship this summer. Belfonte also said that he’s been working out frequently at the Student Recreation Complex and improving his basketball game.

“Now I’m doing my own thing and I’m free,” Belfonte said. “It’s kind of like I’m starting college over right now.”

Belfonte said he liked his time on the squad, which he said accepted him. He holds a lot of good memories from the team but repeated that he felt like it was just his time to go...

STATS

♦ Mizzou's RPI (ranked 124th) and ISR (137th) are still pretty miserable, but the Tigers' Strength of Schedule just keeps climbing. Currently ranked 24th by BoydsWorld.com, it will only go higher as they face teams like Vanderbilt (4th ISR), Kentucky (20th), Texas A&M (27th) and Florida (35th) during the home stretch of the season.

DRAFT

♦ The national media never tires of talking about Missouri's (not Philly's) Alec Rash: College baseball benefiting from MLB draft changes (Sports Illustrated)

Alec Rash is a 6-foot-6 right-hander with the kind of talent that makes professional baseball scouts salivate.
....
Rash, the highest-drafted high school player not to sign a pro contract last year, said the Phillies didn't offer the $750,000 signing bonus he sought. He was the 95th overall selection, and the slot value for that spot was $500,000. Rash enrolled at Missouri instead and is 2-1 with a 3.43 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 21 innings.

He said he probably would have turned pro directly out of high school under the old agreement.

The cap "really makes it difficult for teams to be able to just go out and throw money at someone,'' Rash said. "They have to play more of a game with it. They have to really be smart with their money. Before the new CBA, they could just throw money at someone and make that decision for them.''
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