Tebow flourishing with St. Lucie Mets
STUART — Twelve games into his St. Lucie Mets career and Tim Tebow can check off headfirst slide into home plate.
The Mets won for the second straight night at Jupiter on Saturday by a 3-2 score. Jhoan Urena’s two hits led St. Lucie, but Tebow did his part, too.
Tebow had a hit, an RBI and scored what turned out to be the game’s deciding run on a sacrifice fly by Enmanuel Zabala in the fourth inning — crossing the plate head first.
It was another positive night for Tebow, one of many since arriving from Columbia (S.C.) of the South Atlantic League. There, Tebow was struggling at the plate, hitting .220 and striking out 69 times in 214 at bats.
In the Florida State League, Tebow’s is batting .324 average with six strikeouts in 37 at bats.
Sure it’s only 12 games, but could Tebow be working his way toward another promotion?
Maybe not quite yet, but he’s showing good progress with his at bats.
Tebow said he was getting comfortable at the plate at the end of his stay in Columbia.
“Honestly, I felt good the last couple of weeks in Columbia,” Tebow said on June 28, after his first games with St. Lucie. “I just tried to carry it over, put the bat on the ball and hit it hard.”
Tebow’s single Saturday extended his hitting streak to seven games. And while his 1-for-14 (.071) hitting with runners in scoring position needs work, his .450 average (9-for-20) with no runners on doesn’t.
As expected, Tebow has been a hit at the box office — a crowd of 3,105 attended Saturday’s game at Roger Dean Stadium — and he is terrific with the fans.
About the only thing that hasn’t gone all that well is the Mets’ record with Tebow in the lineup. But maybe that’s changing, too.
St. Lucie is just 4-8 with Tebow but have won three of its last four.
You have to factor in the Mets pitching staff has been one of the worst in the Florida League — thus far.
Going into Saturday’s game at Jupiter, St. Lucie pitchers ranked last in hits (783) and runs (416) allowed.