At first it was cute, dare I say, even an underdog story. Here you have a two time National Champion QB, with the good looks and “Aw-shucks” personality that networks go gaga over, trying to reinvent himself as a major league baseball player. But what started out as a curiosity, has now turned into a sideshow.
Back in 2016 when Tebow embarked on his MLB quest, there was a healthy dose of skepticism from the media and sports fans alike. Would he have the kind of multi-sport success that Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson enjoyed before him? Or would this newest foray fall flat on its face like Chris Chelios’ brief attempt to make Greece’s Olympic bobsleigh team? (It’s a real thing, look it up).
Fast forward to February 2021 and the New York Mets announced that they’d be inviting Tebow as one of the 28 non-roster players to Spring Training. We’re now 5 years into this experiment, we know how this is going to end. In pre-pandemic times the Mets could be accused of trotting Tebow out there more as a “draw” to their minor league games than for his on field talents. A healthy dose of fans hoping to get Florida Gators gear signed by the outfielder, that are willing to purchase a ticket never hurts the bottom line. But in 2021, where Major League Baseball has limited the number of roster spots available as a Coronavirus precaution, the focus should be giving legitimate prospects a shot. Not who is going to generate the most clicks or likes for the Mets social media feed.
Tebow will be turning 34 this summer. Heading into last year, only 45 position players over 30 years old had made their MLB debut since 2000. As you would imagine, the bulk of these would fall in the 30-31 year old category as opposed to mid to late 30’s. In his last season at AAA Tebow hit a paltry .162 with a .495 OPS. His 0.204 walk to strikeout ratio (20BB/98K) was amongst the worst on the team. He hits for neither power, nor speed (18HR and 6SB across 4 seasons or 1119 plate appearances if you’d prefer) and his .960 career fielding percentage in the outfield falls well below the .987 league average in 2020.
In a recent ESPN article, when asked about making the Major Leagues at this point of his career he responded with “Part of it’s just playing every day and enjoying it and competing, which I love. Obviously, that would be awesome. It would be a lie if I said that wouldn’t be super cool. … But I wouldn’t say it would be a success or failure if that did or did not happen.” That sounds more like the pro-athlete version of how a regular person would view playing on a rec league baseball team as opposed to someone with a singular focus on achieving the pinnacle of success of his sport. And that’s because while most minor leaguers are living paycheque to paycheque, Tebow’s real job is working as an analyst for the SEC Network (on top of his other endorsement deals and public speaking appearances).
Following a year full of lockdowns, deaths, small businesses closing, and many families not knowing whether they’ll be able to make their next mortgage or rent payment, the entire situation appears tone deaf at best. In a Mets outfield that includes Conforto, Martinez, Smith, Nimmo, and Almora Jr before you even get to the Mets top prospects list (of which Tebow was unable to crack), do we really expect him to be anything more than a talking point for sports pundits?
If that’s the goal, then mission accomplished, you got me to spend a half hour of my time cranking out this piece. But if the goal is to win baseball games, then Tebow is a non-sequitur in terms of solutions for the Mets. Give the spot to a prospect who has been grinding it out at the lower levels and has actually been trending up with regards to on field production. Who knows, maybe they’ll turn some heads in the process. I’d rather see someone who dedicated their life to making it to the MLB so that they can provide life changing opportunities for those around them to get a crack at making the roster than someone who’s treating it as a way to scratch their competitive itch. We’ve seen this movie before, we know how it ends. Let’s give someone else a shot.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @dynessports