Tim Tebow is going to continue to get plenty of playing time within the New York Mets organization, and fans won’t have to pay a whole lot to watch him play this spring.
The Mets announced on Monday that Tebow will be assigned to the Columbia Fireflies, the team’s low Class-A affiliate in South Carolina. Mets GM Sandy Alderson said having Tebow play every day is the most important thing for the former NFL quarterback.
“Sending him to a full season club is what we hoped to be able to do,” Alderson told Newsday’s Marc Carig. “And based on what he’s done in spring training, and his whole body of work since last fall, we feel comfortable with him going to Columbia.”
Tebow hasn’t done much in spring training, and Alderson acknowledged that he has looked “somewhat overmatched.” The 29-year-old is hitting just .235 in eight games. Tebow has taken a ton of criticism from scouts who feel he has no business playing professional baseball, and Alderson acknowledged even low Class-A could be a challenge.
“We were concerned that it might be a stretch at some point, or could be a stretch,” the GM said. “But what he’s done in spring training has convinced us that this is where he should go. And he’s prepared for it.”
The Mets also continue to scoff at the notion that they are using Tebow as a publicity stunt.
“That’s such a bogus argument,” Alderson said. “We’ve got lots of room for lots of players at lots of different levels. The fact that he’s starting at Columbia, he’s really not taking anybody’s spot. By the way, we have lots of players in our organization who are just that: organizational players. Not every player that we have is a top prospect, whose opportunity is being curtailed by Tim Tebow or anybody else.”
If you want to know how things have gone for Tebow in spring training, just read about the observation Boston Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello made earlier this month. It would be a miracle if Tebow ever made it to the majors.
