Prospect Analyst Keith Law didn’t mince any words in his latest ESPN Insider article in which he completely obliterates the Mets for sending Tim Tebow to the Arizona Fall League and making a mockery of it. After getting a first hand look at Tebow while scouting the league, he offers this biting criticism:
Tebow the baseball player is not a baseball player; he’s a washed-up quarterback who has size and nothing else. His swing is long, and he wields the bat like someone who hasn’t played the sport in more than a decade, which he hasn’t.
He can’t catch up to 90 mph, which is well below the major league average for a fastball, and was cutting through fastballs in the zone on Wednesday night. He rolled over twice on fastballs, which is something you generally see professional hitters do only on off-speed stuff, and he showed below-average running speed. In left field, his routes look like those of a wide receiver, although he managed to eventually make his way around to a fly ball in left. In short, there’s absolutely no baseball justification for Tebow to be here.
Law, who has made a solid career out of scouting prospects, calls Tebow the only hitter he’s ever seen in the AFL who can’t square up a below-average fastball. He offers this bit of advice to the Mets front office:
“Chasing celebrities is no way to run a player-development department, an organization or a league. Everyone involved in the decision should be embarrassed when they’re done counting their money.”
Tebow, 29, is 0-for-9 in three games for the Scottsdale Scorpions with two walks and three strikeouts.
