Jan. 26, 2006

The Big 12 Conference held its preseason Baseball Coaches' Teleconference on Thursday. Below are quotes from Mizzou Head Coach Tim Jamieson.

Opening Statement:
"Obviously we're excited for the beginning of the season for a variety of reasons. We return so much experience and probably as good of talent since I've been here. To go with that, an attitude that guys really want to extend what we've done the last three years and take the next step. So we're excited about the upcoming season and the fact that we've been outside since the day one of practice and we've only been inside a few couple times... somebody's smiling on us. So we feel pretty good right now."

On the attention on junior RHP Max Scherzer:
"Max went through the attention last year and this summer with Team USA. So he's certainly going to be acclimated with the scouting and the professional people and the media attention that he's already received. But I think he's capable of handling that. I think Max has the rare combination of the physical ability, which is lights out- as good I've ever seen, to with the intangibles- the presence he has and the ability to focus pitch-by-pitch and inning-by-inning. He's a guy I'm not particularly worried about right now. My biggest concern with this year's team are the number of draft-eligible players we have and the number of potential high-draft players we have. Frankly, we haven't been in a position like that before. So I think the attention is something we haven't had. The scouts, the number of guys that are going to be at our games, especially early in the year, we're going to have to make sure that the whole team is focused, but Max is probably the one guy that I'm not particularly concerned about."

On his offensive philosophy:
"The first thing we do when we talk to our team is that the one statistic that we are concerned about is runs and be able to play together as a team to allow us to score as many runs possible. We don't focus on batting average. We don't focus on individual achievement. We focus on getting guys on base and getting runs. Whether that means by hitting the ball to the correct side of the field, bunting, hitting and running, doing whatever we have to do to put runners in scoring position and give ourselves a chance to score runs. That's really the main jest of it. At the plate we want our guys to have a very discipline approach in terms of picking pitches to swing at. We've felt like we've had a lot of success with that. Forcing the starting pitchers to work and have our hitters be confident enough to let borderline go by early. College baseball is still a game where pitchers are going to make mistakes with a regular basis. We have to have the patients to sit back and wait for those mistakes. To have guys that are focused on the team and guys focused on doing what is necessary to advance runners and get on base and with that trying to get good pitches to hit."

On the experience Max Scherzer and Hunter Mense gained as part of Team USA:
"The thing I noticed so much it that they recognize that they can compare themselves to the top players in the country and have a feeling they are some of the elite players. Not just because they were chosen to play for Team USA, but because they had the opportunity every day to workout with these guys and sit and talk about the programs and I think by the end of the summer they felt like they were ready to take the next step. We felt like with our players returning, we had some players that were as good as some of the players on Team USA. I think the second thing was having the opportunity to everyday take batting practice, to workout with those players, you have a since of competition and the quality of performance in pregame was amazing to me. I think there's a confidence that comes from that experience that will help not only them, but other players."

On dealing with the high expectations of this year's team:
"We taken the approach that we're going to have a great year and there's going to be expectations externally. We're going to have to make sure that the players are focused on the simple things of the day-to-day activities. We talked about polls and the things that are out there now. None of our players in the dark as it relates to what people are saying about us, but we just said we're not going to talk about it anymore. This is not something we want to discuss in the dugout, at practice, in the clubhouse. Because really, it's a pat on the back and its sure feels good, but its not going to mean a lot if we're not there at the end of the year."

On junior LHP Nathan Culp:
"Nathan is a guy who is capable of having as good of numbers as Max (Scherzer). He had as many wins last year as Max and also had a very successful freshman year. We've seen a continual progression with his pitching. He's added a pitch this year. He's always been a control guy, but he really didn't have a pitch to get himself out of a tough situation. I think he's added that this year. Again, he has the confidence of being a year older and having a good summer out in the Cape Cod League. He's another guy who is going to have to deal with the draft expectations. But I think he'll handle it. He just gives us one more guy who is capable of winning against any opponent on any day. Nathan is a guy that is going to get overshadowed by Max, but by the end of the year when you look at his numbers, he may pitch as well as Max does."

On what freshmen could have an impact this season:
"Ryan Lollis has been the most impressive freshman. He's a guy that could play everyday in the outfield and by the end of the season, hit in the middle of our lineup. Like most freshman, he's going to have to adjust to how he's being pitched. Outside of him, Aaron Crow, who is a right-handed pitcher, a freshman, has a chance to break our top three and pitch on the weekend. But outside of those guys, we're looking at role players. Because of the number of guys we have returning on the mound and positionly, we just don't have a lot of spots for young guys. But I do feel like by the end of the year, you'll see more contributions from the young first-year players."