According to Adam Shefter the Mets have signed former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow to a minor league deal. A conference call with Sandy Alderson and Tim Tebow will air live at 11:30 AM on SNY.
He will report to either the Mets Instructional League or the Arizona Fall League to start his baseball career.
Tebow recently held a workout at the University of Southern California which drew mixed reviews from scouts despite showing off some impressive power in batting practice. He got the chance to hit against former major league pitchers David Aardsma and Chad Smith in the workout.
“I thought he was OK,” one major league scout told USA Today. “For not having played as long as he had, I thought he did OK. That’s a big dude, for as fast as he can run. The power was impressive, but I wish he could have translated it maybe a little better (against live pitching).”
The 29-year old last played baseball at Allen D. Nease High School where he hit .494 as a junior with some scouts saying he would have been drafted by a MLB team had he played his senior year.
Would also like to point out that Tebow’s agent is Brodie Van Wagenen who also represents Yoenis Cespedes.
Here is a video from the workout.
Thoughts from Joe D.
This appears to be more of a public relations move more than anything else.
I wonder if this is more on Jeff Wilpon and not on Sandy Alderson, who made some humorous and somewhat disparaging comments about signing Tebow last month.
“Are you insinuating that we need a Hail Mary at this point? … I’d say it’s probably unlikely.” (MLB.com)
Either way, there’s no risk here and if it helps boost ticket sales for our minor league affiliates along the way given his popularity, there’s nothing wrong with that. And let’s not forget the tons of jersey sales that will come from this and the like. The marketing will be huge.
Interesting to note that Tebow is represented by the same agency that represents Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Yoenis Cespedes, so there’s that.
But given his age, skill set and his undeveloped tools, don’t expect Tebow to appear on the Mets active roster anytime in the future, despite some very raw power.
