Tebow did drive one out – as well as hitting the fence and sending another on one bounce to the fence in right. Tebow, as usual, just smiled at that notion.
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“Whether it’s five people or 500 people, you can’t let that bother you, the size of the crowd or what people are saying or the hype”.
There were about 250 fans Tuesday, less than half of the 577 that showed up for his instructional league debut Monday, with a lot of late arrivals simply to get their baseballs, jerseys and Florida football helmets autographed.
After two days, so far, so good. It’s pretty efficient. But I don’t see the kind of bat speed you need to have to play in the big leagues.
The league is usually just a three-week boot camp for a franchise’s brightest prospects. “It went well. Felt a little more comfortable with a day under my belt”, said Tebow.
One question that popped up among the flurry of questions thrown at Tebow was his thoughts on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his kneeling-during-the-national anthem protests, which have drawn support from other athletes and many in the media.
Has Tebow gone baseball bonkers? He got a huge cheer from fans for executing his first official drill, one where he learned how to take a lead off first base.
“This is nuts”, Bill Durr said.
“It was Tebow”s second straight day facing Carreno, a 38-year-old former minor-league catcher.
Tebow has made an impression here in a short time.
He was again playing the game he loved as a kid.
OK, so it was actually batting practice on Day 2 of Tim Tebow’s Instructional League tour Tuesday. Having been away from organized baseball since his junior year in high school, Tebow has missed a decade of live pitching.
“I had a bunch of people welcome me to the city at Target”.
“I heard that was something that they might be selling”.
I was defining success as Tebow making the majors, or at least making a surprising minor-league run.
The colors – orange and blue – are the same. Lopez went to the University of Florida at the same time Tebow was in college and said he ran into him often while on campus.
Being a Big Leaguer was his first athletic dream, from the first time he swung a bat form at Normandy Park in Jacksonville.
I understand how hard this is and that a lot of people think it’s impossible.
That hasn’t stopped the jersey from becoming the third-highest seller on the shop (behind David Ortiz and Kris Bryant). Tebow didn’t want to look back and lament not taking another swing at baseball.
“After that, Tebow”s three rounds of batting practice were over.
Nobody else managed that.
Media throngs well known to Tebow are not common in fall instructional league.
If that muscular frame restricts Tebow’s mobility or affects his ability to turn on inside fastballs, he hasn’t noticed. Tebow just relishes the opportunity to try. “I just want to be someone to pursue what I believe in, what I’m passionate about”.
So don’t get caught up in the scrutiny and skepticism and where all this ends up.
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“You look at things they do well, whether it’s super-fast hands, or getting their foot down, or their rotation, or hands through the zone, ” Tebow said.
