I have to say I'm shocked. Good for him.

His legend continues to grow haha

the owner of that minor league franchise is thrilled

Kudos to Tebow on the HR. While I see this as nothing more than a pr stunt for the Mets, I don't fault him at all. Hitting a HR at the professional levels, especially in your first at-bat, has got to be one of the greatest feelings ever. Good for him.

Went opposite field too, on the first

He'll probably never be better than Dave Kingman or Rob Deer. What a poser.

he didn't even know it was a homerun. thought he got a double. that's hilarious

94chem said:

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He'll probably never be better than Dave Kingman or Rob Deer. What a poser.

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He'll never be better than those two are at their current ages (68 & 56 respectively).

ClassOf17 said:

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Yep #2 already.

Must've been another JV pitcher hanging a curve.

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Let's not overlook the fact that, while the homers look nice, the guy isn't doing much of anything else. 3 for 13 w/ 2 homers. I think everyone knew he had power and could drive the ball if he made contact. Making contact is his problem.

Lucky #007 said:

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To be fair it bounced back in and the CF played it like it was live. He just wasn't paying attention the umpire.

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That makes more sense. Couldn't pick out that detail on my phone.

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But let's also not lose sight of the fact that he's got a better batting average than 3 of the other 9 guys on the roster with 10 or more at bats.

He's not drawing walks, which I bet is partly a product of him swinging at some junk and that is something that you can work on and will get better at avoiding with more at bats.

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Yes, he has a higher BA, after 3 games, than 3 guys. But he's got a lower BA than 6 guys that are nearly a decade younger. He's doing better than I would imagine any of us would do, but he'll never even sniff AA ball. From everything I've read w/ regards to scouting reports on him, his swing is slow, long and not smooth. That's why he's having trouble making contact. Sure his discipline may improve and he'll draw some walks, but I'd be extremely surprised if he hits over .200 for the season.

He's within one of Michael Jordan's career minor league HR total, and he's 2 years younger than Jordan was. Jordan did play AA, though.

94chem said:

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He's within one of Michael Jordan's career minor league HR total, and he's 2 years younger than Jordan was. Jordan did play AA, though.

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I would bet that Jordan's baseball "career" will be better than Tebow's, although I'm sure this PR stunt will last longer than Jordan's. Jordan had 17 doubles, a triple and 30 stolen bases at the AA level. I think people are putting way too much stock in 3 games, or more accurately people are putting way too much stock in 2 swings. Let's not forget that the guy hit .194 in the Arizona Fall League, which put him at 15th of 19 on that team.

But, he may prove me wrong. I just don't think the guy is any good, but don't blame him at all for taking advantage of this PR move by the Mets.

I'm not taking 3 games as proof "he belongs". The point is I find bagging on his numbers so far---which you did--- doesn't back up the narrative that he's "not remotely skilled enough to play at that level."

He his hitting .231. Its not just better than 3 guys. Its better than the team batting average for three teams in that league.

Kannapolis is hitting .221, Augusta is hitting .194, and West Virginia is hitting .182.

I don't know if he'll make it to AA or not. A lot of guys don't. I don't know if he'll finish above .200.

But so far he's shown as well as a lot of guys in that league.

TXAggie2011 said:

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I'm not taking 3 games as proof "he belongs". The point is I find bagging on his numbers so far---which you did--- doesn't back up the narrative that he's "not remotely skilled enough to play at that level."

He his hitting .231. Its not just better than 3 guys. Its better than the team batting average for three teams in that league.

Kannapolis is hitting .221, Augusta is hitting .194, and West Virginia is hitting .182.

I don't know if he'll make it to AA or not. A lot of guys don't. I don't know if he'll finish above .200.

But so far he's shown as well as a lot of guys in that league.

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Bagging on him? I simply pointed out that outside 2 homers, he's not done really anything this season or in fall ball. As I said, everyone knew he could drive the ball. Making contact is his issue, and that's being largely driven by his poor swing mechanics. He's got a long, slow swing. Sure he'll make contact on some and drive them, but this isn't "bagging on his numbers":

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Let's not overlook the fact that, while the homers look nice, the guy isn't doing much of anything else. 3 for 13 w/ 2 homers. I think everyone knew he had power and could drive the ball if he made contact. Making contact is his problem.

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It's just an obvious statement. Especially after I just praised him w/ this comment:

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Kudos to Tebow on the HR. While I see this as nothing more than a pr stunt for the Mets, I don't fault him at all. Hitting a HR at the professional levels, especially in your first at-bat, has got to be one of the greatest feelings ever. Good for him.

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But point taken. There's some really bad baseball being played at that level. He's not the absolute worst, which I don't think anyone has ever claimed to be the case. He's just not good.

Tebow has a lot of catching up to do. I'll be impressed if he's able to keep his average above the Mendoza line during the first half of the season, which I don't expect. I'm really interested to see how he does in the second half, though. He should start to get acclimated a little more to the pitching, but the day-to-day grind of minor league baseball will start to wear on him, too.

My overall expectation is that Tebow tops out in AA next year as a .220 hitter, and the Mets' minor league clubs benefit from a little extra cash flow.

Just figured it was worth updating this thread... http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19252595/tim-tebow-columbia-fireflies-hitting-246-first-triple-3-4-day

Tebow will probably get the call up to Advanced A sometime in May if I had to guess.

Gotta give credit where credit is due. He's doing much better, so far, than I had anticipated. Good for him.

Update:

60 games
201 AB
45 H
.224 AVG
3 HR
21 RBI
66 K
.657 OPS

He might still get called up just because the Mets are a total side show, so why not go all the way? But, it won't be due to his proven ball playing skills. Those numbers could justify a player getting dropped from the roster.

Say Chowdah said:

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He might still get called up just because the Mets are a total side show, so why not go all the way? But, it won't be due to his proven ball playing skills. Those numbers could justify a player getting dropped from the roster.

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Agreed. A promotion at this point would seem to be nothing but a pr move. He's not the worst hitter on the team, so I get keeping him where he is, but there's no on-field reason to promote.

How has his play in the field been?

He just got promoted to high A ball

Look looks like St. Lucie gets to benefit from a PR move now.

Agnzona said:

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How has his play in the field been?

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Looks like he's committed the 3rd most errors on the team. 2B leads team w/ 10. He's committed 7...most of any OF.

Yes because he definitely got promoted for his baseball skills and not because the Mets are calling him up in September to boost ticket sales because they're terrible.