Tim Tebow Doesn't Not Look Like A Baseball Player Anymore...I Think
Of course Tim Tebow LOOKS like a baseball player. He’s jacked as fuck and super athletic, but I’m not talking about his physical appearance. I’m talking about how he actually looks performing a baseball activity. Back in August when he was showcasing his baseball abilities, or lack thereof, I wrote about how he basically looked like a Hollywood actor that was attempting to play a baseball player in a movie.
For all I know, he still looks like that when attempting to do anything other than hit. It was cringeworthy to watch him in the outfield. So much so that prospect guru Keith Law tore Tebow to shreds, writing that he’s “a farce, and he looks like an imposter pretending to have talent he does not possess,” among other strongly-worded, harsh and critical opinions.
I’m assuming most of Law’s analysis had to do with Tebow from an overall standpoint, but he did hone in on his ability at the plate specifically, saying, “Tebow is the only hitter I’ve seen here this year or in any recent year who couldn’t even square up a below-average fastball.” I mean, I’m totally in the same mindset as Keith as far as Tebow should’ve never been there in the first place. The Arizona Fall League is for the game’s top prospects, and Tebow hadn’t played baseball at any level whatsoever in twelve fuckin’ years. What did you think he was gonna look like?
All that being said, Tebow showed up to Mets spring training camp yesterday, and I’ll be damned if little Timmy T-Ball didn’t look like a real ballplayer up there. In day one of his first spring training ever, Tebow hit nine home runs in batting practice. Again, this is batting practice we’re talking about. But what does that tell us? The raw power is there. However, it didn’t exactly translate in the Arizona Fall League last year where Tebow hit zero homers in 70 plate appearances, although he did hit three doubles.
Also, something the #TeamTebow crowd can hang their hat on is that he actually performed much better towards the end of his stint in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .267 with a .739 OPS, and a .405 on-base percentage over his last 10 games. The .739 OPS is average at best, but that north of .400 on-base percentage was quite the pleasant surprise. That, and two of his three doubles came in his final five games, so you could actually see that he was making strides at the plate.
Now, does all this mean that I think he’s destined to make it to the big leagues some day? No. There’s still no way that happens. A guy who takes 12 years off from baseball, jumps back in at the age of 29 with dreams of making it to the big leagues, is taking on a nearly impossible task. I’d honestly be stoked if, under those same circumstances, I could hit around .200 in the AFL, which he did. That’s a tall enough task in its own right. Towards the end there, he proved that he could at least hang with the best of the best prospects that the game has to offer. At least, offensively.
I think he’s a freak athlete. I think he’s coachable. I think he legitimately wants this. I think, if given enough time, he could actually perform at a level that doesn’t make this experiment a complete disaster and embarrassment, but I also think all of this takes place in the low level of the minors. I’m sure there will be a lot of “no shit” comments there, but I’m not saying the point is that he won’t make it to the majors. Everybody already knows that. I’m saying that he at least has shown somewhat of a skill set, offensively, to make this side show last a little bit longer than the majority expected it to.