Mets Announce Tim Tebow's Destination for the Start of Spring Training
With his much-discussed engagement as well as his various movie and television projects, it’d be hard to blame anyone for forgetting that Tim Tebow actually has a burgeoning baseball career.
It’s been a while, but people seem to have already forgotten that Tebow was hitting a very respectable .273 with six home runs and 36 RBIs before a hand injury derailed his season with the New York Mets’ Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
Not that it should surprise anyone, but Tebow made it very clear that he was planning on getting back to work despite the season-ending injury.
Time to go back to work! #LGM pic.twitter.com/giSAi6u6Vo
— Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) July 25, 2018
From all indications, that hard work and rehab have paid off.
For the second year in a row, Tebow has been invited to the big league camp for the Mets. That means he will joining some major league players for spring training in Florida.
We’ve invited 13 additional players to Major League #SpringTraining. #Mets pic.twitter.com/p2jAYXTY7N
— New York Mets (@Mets) January 17, 2019
All 40-man roster players are automatically put into big league camp. Tebow is not a member of that squad, so he and 12 other minor leaguers were extended an invitation.
Speculation has been rampant that the 31-year-old Tebow could be called up to the majors this year.
“If Tim Tebow is the best offensive player in Triple-A at that point in time, he’s going to be in (manager Mickey Callaway’s) lineup,” Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said in early December while revealing that Tebow would start the season with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse.
Despite the jump in talent that going from Double-A to Triple-A represents, Van Wagenen seems none too worried.
“I’ve always said about Tim, tell him he can’t do something and he’s going to prove you wrong,” the GM said.
To be clear, this is hardly any sort of guarantee that Tebow will make a major league team or even thrive in Triple-A. However, there’s mounting evidence that, despite not playing competitive baseball for 10 years, Tebow is honing his craft at an exceptional pace.
“The strides he made from when he first signed and the showcase that he had, to how much better he’s gotten at the level of competition he’s had to perform, it’s been remarkable,” Van Wagenen said.
CBS Sports notes that since this will be Tebow’s third full minor league season, he will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft next winter.
In short, that means if the Mets do not call him up and add him to the 40-man roster, another MLB team could add him to its roster via that draft.
It would certainly be a crossroads for the Mets.
One way or another, it’s starting to look more and more like we’ll be seeing Tim Tebow batting in a major league game this season. If past history is any indication, he’s more than ready to live up to the challenge.
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