The Tebow sweepstakes has finally come to a close and now the only thing left if for Tebow to prove that he can play and excel at on the field.
Advertisement
As every sports outlet in the world is reporting, the New York Mets signed former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy victor Tim Tebow to a minor league contract yesterday.
The Mets announced Thursday the former NFL quarterback will report September 18 to the Instructional League in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
The 29-year-old recently announced his desire to play professional baseball and was given the opportunity to participate in a workout in front of more than 40 Major League Baseball scouts on Tuesday.
The decision to sign him was made by Mets general manager Sandy Alderson and chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon. He belted three homers during his batting practice including one that was over 400 feet long. Scouts were impressed with his speed and strength, but Tebow struggled against live pitching and rated as a below-average arm for an outfielder. He gave up his baseball career for football, went on to a stellar career at Florida and was a member of four different NFL teams from 2010-15. Alderson said Tebow will be assigned to an affiliate team for the 2017 season, but could not predict yet whether Tebow would be with the team for major league spring training.
“I’ve told him, ‘No one’s going to want to see you slap the ball the other way and run; you’re going to be out there to knock walls down, ‘” Moeller said. “What if you don’t make it?”
“‘Guess what? I don’t have to live with regret”. I did everything I could.
Terms of Tebow’s contract with the Mets were not disclosed.
The 29-year-old former Heisman Trophy player – who has not played for an National Football League team since being released by the Philadelphia Eagles after their pre-season in 2015 – is hoping to switch sports to baseball.
Advertisement
Steering Tebow toward the Mets is logical for his representatives at Creative Artists Agency, as well. Tebow had preseason stints with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles in the following years, but failed to make the final roster either time.
