Tebow will begin his professional baseball career next week in Port St. Lucie, Florida at the Mets’ instructional league. The 29-year-old likely won’t make it past Low-A ball.
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When Tim Tebow was last in the New York market, he was under center for the New York Jets.
The Mets’ decision was a collaboration between chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and general manager Sandy Alderson, who took the plunge despite minimal interaction with the team’s scouting folks or baseball operations people.
“It’s been something that I’ve been thinking about for a little while and came close to pulling the trigger on a year ago”, Tebow said during a press call, according to ESPN’s Adam Rubin.
“This was not something that was driven by marketing considerations or anything of the sort”. “We are extremely intrigued by the potential Tim has”.
“I’d be shocked if he’s not rusty, but the Mets thought enough of him to sign him, so I’m curious”.
Tim Tebow will miss a couple days per week during his Instructional League season to continue his college football duties for ESPN. And Columbia is also the home of the University of South Carolina’s main campus and football team, so it’d put Tebow back in SEC territory.
“I expected it”, Decker said. “I understand this is not a typical situation”. “After that, I started doing a little [baseball] training. I don’t view this as not taking (baseball) seriously”. “Then, after the season, I really picked it up and now we’re here”.
The nuts and bolts of the Tebow signing include him reporting to Port St. Lucie on September 18 for an instructional camp that concludes October 8.
Alderson: “There is no guarantee (Tim) will be in major league spring training”.
Chad Moeller, the former major league catcher who trained Tebow at his baseball facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, said last month that he believed Tebow could already hit.220 in the major leagues. There’s nothing set for Tebow after instructional league ends after three weeks.
Alderson went on to tell us that Mets pitcher Seth Lugo was a 34th round draft pick in 2011, and rookie infielder T.J. Rivera was undrafted. I think that is underscored by his competitiveness and his determination to succeed and to improve. And so we are thrown once again through the portal to the Tebow vortex, a singular confluence where physical ability, athletic opportunity and social commentary swirl together. “We’re willing to spend the next four to five years finding out”.
According to Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports 1, the Mets allowing Tebow to keep his role with ESPN is the reason he signed with them. “It was like watching an actor trying to portray a baseball player”. Although he seemed slightly uncomfortable at first as an analyst, Tebow has quickly become a strong on-camera personality.
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So when critics inevitably say that Tebow is pursuing baseball for attention or to enhance his personal brand, he can’t point to a full commitment to the game as a counterpoint.
