Tebow hasn’t played baseball regularly since his junior year at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Florida.
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But you can bet that if Jimmy Garoppolo were to be injured in Week 1, and the Patriots – for whatever unforeseeable reason – called and asked Tebow to bring his long throwing motion up to MA and play QB, he would tell ESPN that he was going to be taking a break for a while.
He projects to be an outfielder if he ever makes it to the majors. He chose to pursue football and became a Heisman Trophy victor at the University of Florida, but his professional career was short-lived. “I’m very grateful to have the opportunity”, Tebow said. One evaluator took note of Tebow’s weak arm but said the results were better when Tebow chased down balls on the run and came up throwing without obsessing over his mechanics.
A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that the Mets made a decision to sign Tebow Wednesday, amid interest from other clubs including the Atlanta Braves.
Now, it is the Mets sharing the burden of handling naysayers, but in a conference call on Thursday, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and Tebow both showed a willingness to ignore the haters and embrace the opportunity. It bears repeating that this is fine to the extent that the Mets and Tebow hammered out such an arrangement, but Tebow and the Mets likewise should spare us any talk of absolute dedication to his baseball career.
It follows meetings last week with five teams, with the Atlanta Braves reportedly heading the list of teams discussing a contract.
He faces a daunting and unlikely climb to the major leagues, as his showcase for major league scouts in Los Angeles showed. The network is already reporting the move as front page news. Jordan, who was 31, hit.202 with three homers and 30 stolen bases. Tebow showcased his skills for 28 Major League Baseball teams in Los Angeles in late August before the Mets agreed to sign him. Why should a team one year removed from a feel-good World Series run, in the thick of a playoff race and stacked with young pitching need publicity for freakish off the field stunts? I want to be someone that pursues what I believe in and what I’m passionate about, and a lot of people will say, ‘Well, what if you fail? “You have to look for the next thing that God would have you to do”. Though the impact of the city’s huge media contingent on actual on-field baseball events is often overblown – especially by members of that media contingent – the group of 40+ reporters inevitably covering just about every Mets home game represents a challenge players must learn to negotiate. Sure. But that’s their problem, not ours.
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Brooks” spring training appearances raised money for his Touch “Em All Foundation; the Mets organization and individual players vowed to make donations, which were directed to children’s charities. But that’s a problem that ace PR man Jay Horwitz will have to address, not us.
