Tim Tebow struggling in Triple-A
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) >> Six weeks into his latest baseball adventure, Tim Tebow is still struggling to find his stroke with the Syracuse Mets at the top rung of minor league ball.
He remains unflappable in spite of the numbers.
“I think I’m improving. I’m working, developing,” Tebow said Thursday before the Mets played a night game. “I think I’m getting better, adapting to some really good players, and I think that’s important.”
The former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner is on a first-place team in the International League that’s thrived on its pitching, and Tebow’s offensive contributions have been minimal. In Syracuse’s first 23 games, Tebow had just 10 hits and was batting .130 with 32 strikeouts. A recent surge of hits in six of seven games that included a game-winning, pinch-hit double boosted the average to .158, still last in the league and well below the dreaded Mendoza Line, but encouraging nonetheless.
“It definitely helps with confidence,” said Tebow, who turns 32 in mid-August. “More than just confidence, getting into a rhythm. I think sometimes if you’re not in rhythm you can press a little bit, swing at pitches you don’t want to swing at. But when you’re in a rhythm, it just flows a little bit better. I think that’s important.”
Since giving baseball a shot three years ago after playing in the NFL for three seasons, at mid
week Tebow had these career numbers: a .230 batting average (197 hits in 856 at-bats), 46 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs, and 99 RBIs in 258 games. He also had struck out 287 times and walked 81 times and had an on-base percentage of .307, a slugging mark of .340, and an OPS of .647 (OPS is the sum of a player’s on-base percentage and slugging average, a measure of an ability to get on base and hit for power).
Tebow displayed solid improvement in Double-A last year, batting .273 with six home runs, 108 total bases, and 36 RBIs in 271 at-bats over 84 games for Binghamton of the Eastern League before an injury to his right hand ended his season. The step up to Triple-A has been imposing.