Yesterday Tim Tebow announced his retirement from baseball.
The New York Mets used his celebrity status for attention. It was unlikely that Tebow possessed the talent to make it to the major leagues and at 31 his window of opportunity to make the Mets opening day roster was pretty much closed. It’s likely he understood this as well especially with the franchise under new ownership.
For the most part Tebow was terrible both offensively and defensively. He did have one decent season in Double-A which earned him a promotion in 2019 to Triple-A. Where he hit .163 with four home runs and 19 rbi in 239 at-bats. He also struck out 98 times.
Overall in his minor league career he hit .223 with 18 home runs, 107 rbi, he had a .299 obp, walked 85 times, and struck out 327 times. His fielding percentage was .959.
So it’s not surprising that some of his teammates got frustrated with him being on the roster to begin with. One now former Mets minor leaguer said “(The Mets) made a mockery of our team by putting a celebrity on it to sell more tickets. I saw players lose their jobs because of it. We weren’t playing to win, we were playing to make everyone else money. Not the players. We never saw a cut. Well, allegedly that one player did. I think people are starting to understand that more now but they didn’t in 2018 when it was happening again. I was fed up.”
Thankfully the failed ridiculous Tebow Experiment is over and the Mets no longer need a gimic to get fans interested. Even better is that it means a younger and more talented player will get an opportunity to impress the organization.