Blue Jays' Norris relishes offseason spent living out of his van

In addition to being one of baseball's top left-handed pitching prospects, Daniel Norris is also an adventurer, model, surfer, musician, and (occasionally) bearded eccentric who spends his offseason living out of his 1978 Volkswagen van.

Norris, who made his MLB debut in September, is currently in the midst of a third consecutive annual pilgrimage from his Tennessee home to Dunedin, Fla., the spring training home of the the Toronto Blue Jays. Relishing the solitude, Norris's trek is punctuated with lots of surfing and hiking, though the Blue Jays aren't exactly enamored with his unique offseason regimen.

"(The Blue Jays) have expressed concern as far as living in the van," Norris told MLB.com's Josh Jackson. "For them, it's just, 'Why?' They've kind of said, 'Well, we don't think that's a very good idea.' I said, 'You've got to understand, I've been doing stuff like this my whole life,'" explained Norris.

Norris, a second-round pick in the 2011 draft, jumped into the prospect spotlight last season after blazing through three minor-league levels. The 21-year-old fashioned a 2.53 ERA while notching 163 strikeouts over 124 2/3 minor-league innings before his magical campaign culminated in a September cameo with the Blue Jays.

Though his deep repertoire and improved command have inspired lots of optimism about his future, Norris's idiosyncratic lifestyle is still lost on many in the baseball community.

"Almost all of my teammates think I'm the weirdest guy in the world. Most people (in baseball) think I'm pretty far out," Norris admitted.

Norris, however, is still able to draw some parallels between his career in baseball and his meandering, somewhat monastic offseason regimen.

"As a pitcher, you're the guy making the pitches. You're the one the whole team's depending on. Living by yourself in a van, you've got to tend to yourself, cook for yourself, and if anything goes wrong, just deal with it. It teaches me a lot about adversity," he said.