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Hello, this is an urgent and breaking news regarding Tim Tebow’s baseball career. On Sunday, the Mets organization announced that Tebow would be moving up to the team’s high-A affiliate in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. He’s now one step under the AA level of Minor League Baseball.
Here’s a look at how Tebow has been hitting with the Columbia Fireflies, which he joined in March.
Batting .222, with 3 home runs (two of which came in the first three games); also has 23 walks to 69 strikeouts. https://t.co/SOY4RSwq1q
— Empty Seats Galore (@EmptySeatsPics) June 25, 2017
Tim Tebow is hitting .222 with 3 home runs, leads his team in strikeouts & is the oldest guy on the team by 6 years https://t.co/1giWaRIJNv
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger_sherman) June 25, 2017
Tebow moving up with these type of numbers may sound surprising, but a promotion for him has been in the works for a while. A report from May 12 had him skipping St. Lucie entirely and going right to AA.
A report states that the Mets are preparing to promote Tebow to Double A. The change wouldn’t be immediate, according to the New York Post, which reports that a team source says the promotion won’t likely occur until after the All-Star break.
On first glance, Tebow's current numbers at Class-A aren't heart-stopping. He's hitting a middling .250/.330/.370, and that's over 28 games. He hit a home run in his first game and one in his third game, but none since. But when you look a little closer, you start to actually see the whisper of... something. Over the last 16 games, Tebow has brought his overall average up from a low of .156 to a high of .250. Over that time, he's hit .327/.413/.436 with four doubles and a triple. That's not nothing.
Tebow isn’t bad strictly speaking, but he definitely isn’t good.
Tim Tebow hit .222/.311/.340 and made 7 errors in 58 chances as a left fielder. Mets just promoted him from low Single-A to high Single-A.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 25, 2017
Tebow said in his exit presser from the Fireflies that although he was in Columbia, and hopes the city is in a better place with him being there, the former Florida Gator quarterback is still not a South Carolina Gamecock fan.
.@TimTebow leaving @ColaFireflies: Says he hopes city is a little better than when he arrived but jokes "I'm still not a Gamecock fan" pic.twitter.com/Zrasz7NWar
— Andy Shain (@AndyShain) June 25, 2017
Three other players are heading to Port Saint Lucie with him. Two are pitchers while a third, named Michael Paez, is a position player with better numbers and more promise as a prospect by comparison.
Paez was a critical part of the squad's offense. The infielder led the Fireflies with a .290 batting average and recorded a league-leading 21 doubles. He also smashed eight home runs - two coming in one game on June 15. The 22-year-old was selected in the fourth round by the Mets in 2016 out of Coastal Carolina.
It’s hard to imagine Tebow would be promoted with his numbers if he wasn’t Tim Tebow, but he’s headed back to Florida in orange and blue anyway.