By now, I’m sure you’ve caught news that Tim Tebow plans to ditch his current ESPN broadcasting gig and take a crack at making it to the Big Leagues.
The soon-to-be 29-year-old plans to hold a workout for Major League Baseball teams later this month, per his agents Jimmy Sexton and Nick Khan.
Tebow, who hadn’t played baseball on a consistent basis in over 10 years, has reportedly been training in Arizona and Los Angeles for the past year in an attempt to hone his fielding and hitting skills.
We have to travel all the way back to Timmy’s high school days to find any metric that represent his baseball .
Tebow was an all-state baseball player in Florida that year and hit .494 as a junior, helping Nease High School reach the final four of the Florida state playoffs. (via ESPN)
A video of Tebow in the batting cages is beginning to make the rounds of the world wide web. It’s likely the video was taken in the last year, during Tebow’s training.
I’m not too privy on swing mechanics, but I know one thing: the dude has some POWER.
Tebow in the cage. Judge for yourself. You tell me if that swing gets past AA. pic.twitter.com/7Ij0pfK5cv
— Beau Bishop (@BeauBishop) August 9, 2016
CBS MLB writer Dayn Perry analyzed Tebow’s cut:
That stance is pretty wide (although that worked for Jeff Bagwell, among others), and there’s probably not quite enough hip-and-shoulder separation going on early in the swing.
There’s some bat lag going on — i.e., the hands leading the barrel — which helps get a “whip effect” going, which is a good thing.
Some Major Leaguers were offended by Tebow’s lofty new goal (i.e. Oriole’s outfielder Adam Jones):
After this @MLB season I'm going try out for the @NFL this offseason. I haven't played since HS but I've played in a few TurkeyBowls since!!
— 10 (@SimplyAJ10) August 9, 2016
Some were a bit more supportive.
I spent time w @TimTebow in the cages recently, he's a NATURAL. I absolutley believe in his ability to play in the bigs. Tim has IT #focused
— Gary Sheffield (@garysheffield) August 9, 2016
Former MLB catcher Chad Moeller said in a statement through Tebow’s agent, via ESPN:
“I am beyond impressed with Tim’s athleticism and swing, and it goes without saying that he has shown a high level of discipline and strong work ethic. I see bat speed and power and real baseball talent. I truly believe Tim has the skill set and potential to achieve his goal of playing in the Major Leagues, and based on what I have seen over the past two months, it could happen relatively quickly.”
Regardless of whether he makes it or not, I gotta tip my cap to Tebow for going after it, even if the odds against him are astronomical. Some men aren’t built to cope with successive perceived failures.
[h/t ESPN]