Tim Tebow really is trying to make this baseball thing work, but so far, that’s just not happening.
The former NFL quarterback signed with the New York Mets in September and has been playing in the Arizona Fall League, where he posted a .194/.296/.242 slash line with three doubles, no home runs and 20 strikeouts in 19 games. And with those numbers came pretty rough assessments from major league scouts.
Here’s what a few had to say, via the New York Post:
“Awful,” one American League scout said.
“Stinks,” one National League scout said.
“Ugly,” another executive said. “In the field and at the plate, nothing looks natural.”
Ouch.
Those poor reviews aren’t completely surprising considering Tebow hadn’t played baseball since high school. But it certainly doesn’t look great for the Mets, who gave him a $100,000 signing bonus. Still, some people did have positive things to say about Tebow, even if it was a bit backhanded.
“He’s not an embarrassment by any means,” an AL executive told the Post. “And he’s a tremendous influence on his teammates, which is worth something.”
But that same exec also had a warning.
“The deck is stacked against him because of his age,” they said. “He has phenomenal makeup and he has some power, but his swing is thick, and he’s a below average defender.”
Tebow is 29 years old, which usually is when baseball players are in their prime. Unless Tebow figures out how to go from high school level to Major League Baseball in a year, then his odds of making a big league roster in his career are slim.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson didn’t hate what he saw in Arizona, though, and still plans to bring Tebow to spring training to compete for a spot on a Single-A roster.
“The idea for us was just to get him more game experience there,” Alderson said. “We thought he might be somewhat overmatched and that was true early on, but from the first 10 days of the Arizona Fall League to the last 10 days, there was a marked improvement.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
