Despite his absence from the 40-man roster, Tim Tebow will be at big league camp in Port St. Lucie for the New York Mets.
Once viewed as a sideshow of epic proportions, Tim Tebow is continuing to prove his doubters wrong. The New York Mets farmhand traded in his football cleats for metal spikes and an outfielder’s glove.
According to ESPN, Tebow is receiving an invite to big league camp in Port St. Lucie. The Heisman Trophy winner is not on the 40-man roster so he needed a non-roster invite, but his presence was a foregone conclusion.
Tebow is the most famous baseball player in America and his presence is sure to draw crowds. The outfielder is a larger than life presence and his invite was a no-brainer from a marketing standpoint.
That being said, Tebow has quietly improved as a minor leaguer over the last couple of years. His slash lines have improved year over year and he finished the 2018 season with six homers and 36 RBI in 84 games with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies — the Mets’ double-A affiliate. He slashed .273/.336/.399 with the Rumble Ponies.
It’s unclear whether or not Tebow will ever make his MLB debut, but general manager Brodie Van Wagenen has left open the possibility.
“If we somehow suffered an injury and we needed somebody to replace Brandon Nimmo or Michael Conforto in the starting lineup, and if Tim Tebow is the best offensive player in Triple-A at that point in time, he’s going to be in Mickey [Callaway]’s lineup,” Van Wagenen said on WFAN in December.
Furthermore, Tebow always remains a possibility for a September call up to energize the fanbase should the Mets be well out of a playoff spot. It’s possible that the Mets would have brought Tebow up for those exact purposes in 2018, but a broken hand ended his season before that possibility was on the table.
