On Sunday afternoon, quarterback-turned-outfielder Tim Tebow wrapped up his first full minor-league season as a member of the New York Mets organization. His team, the St. Lucie Mets (Advanced Class A), closed out their regular season with a victory against the Palm Beach Cardinals (SLM 4, PLM 3). At 63-75, St. Lucie did not qualify for the Florida State League postseason.
Tebow went 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout Sunday, giving him a .226/.309/.347 batting line in 126 total games this season. He split the season between St. Lucie and the Class A Columbia Fireflies. Here's the breakdown of his season:
| Games | PA | AVG/OBP/SLG | HR | RBI | BB% | K% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Columbia | 64 | 244 | .220/.331/.336 | 3 | 23 | 9.8% | 28.3% |
St. Lucie | 62 | 242 | .231/.307/.356 | 5 | 29 | 7.9% | 23.6% |
Total | 126 | 486 | .226/.309/.347 | 8 | 52 | 8.8% | 25.9% |
Tebow did lower his strikeout rate after being promoted, so that's encouraging. Once you adjust for the league offensive environment, Tebow was approximately 8 percent worse than league average with Columbia and 3 percent worse than average with St. Lucie.
No, being a below league-average hitting corner outfielder is not good, but considering Tebow had not played baseball competitively since high school a decade ago, it's pretty impressive he was able to do what he did this season. Hitting .226 with a not outrageous strikeout rate across 126 games is quite an accomplishment.
Tebow recently said he doesn't know what the plan is for the remainder of the 2017 baseball season. The Mets did not assign him to the Arizona Fall League, though it is possible he will get a September callup. Either way, Tebow said he intends to return to the Mets organization next season, and they could very well bump him up to Double-A.
