The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Tim Tebow reassigned to minor league camp
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Tim Tebow is nowhere near giving up his dream of playing professional baseball after accepting the bad news from the Mets.
“Every day, I’m all-in in pursuing this,” Tebow said. “If you’ve been around here, you see that. And that’s just my goal and we’re going to give it as good a shot as we can.”
The Mets cut the failed NFL quarterback from camp on Tuesday after his second spring training with the big league team. The Mets re-assigned Tebow to minor league camp.
Tebow said he’s improving at playing pro ball every year, and this spring was a “night and day” difference from last year. He finished his spring playing left field and going 4 for 15 and slashing .267/.389/.267 with an RBI and a walk over eight Grapefruit League games.
“Just so much more experience and opportunity to work every day,” Tebow said. “And try to perform as well, but I think the learning aspect of it and being able to learn from all the players, from coaches and really take it as a huge opportunity to grow and get better.”
Tebow said he leaned on eight-time All-Star Robinson Cano and hitting coach Chili Davis through- out this year’s Mets camp. He enjoyed picking Cano’s brain and attempting to adapt the second baseman’s mindset.
Tebow joked about keeping in touch with the Mets regulars since the minor league camp is just a few yards away from the big league clubhouse in Port St. Lucie.
“It’s only like three minutes away,” Tebow said. “Yeah, I think I’ll stay in touch. We also have cell phones too.”
He got injured during spring training last year when he accidentally stepped on a sprinkler head. Tebow said that took
a toll on his preparation for the minor league season.
“Last year, the start was so disappointing, just day one getting injured,” Tebow said. “It’s like an uphill battle the whole time. Just very frustrating. This year I feel like it’s a very different atmosphere, just being able to learn and work and improve, and also show that as well.”
Tebow, 31, said he grew up watching Hall of Famer Frank Thomas and wore his No. 35 while playing Little League baseball. Tebow even had the opportunity to meet the slugger at a recent event.
“It’s just the love of the game and it really being one of my first loves when I was a four-year-old boy,” Tebow said. “You don’t know what tomorrow has but maybe I’ll have those opportunities in the future but this one I have now, so I want to be all in in the present, and embrace it as much as possible.
“Those other things are awesome and I love them, and there are so many things I want to go after in my life, but for this season, my life, this is it, playing the game that I love.”
Tebow is also hosting a reality TV show with production help from NBA superstar LeBron James involving an “epic” obstacle course race.
“LeBron and his team did an amazing job coming up with it,” Tebow said. “Let’s put it this way: To win, you got to pull yourself up a 15-story building and zip-line down. I may or may not have zip-lined down the 15-story building to start one of the episodes. It’s epic. It’s like some of the other shows you’ve seen, just like on steroids.”