Tim Tebow’s professional baseball career has come to a close.
Tebow was invited to the New York Mets’ spring training this year, but he won’t be joining the team there. The Mets on Wednesday announced Tebow had retired.
“I want to thank the Mets, Mr. Alderson, the fans and all my teammates for the chance to be a part of such a great organization,” Tebow said in a statement shared by the team. “I loved every minute of the journey, but at this time I feel called in other directions. I never want to be partially in on anything. I always want to be 100 percent in on whatever I choose. Thank you again for everyone’s support of this awesome journey in baseball, I’ll always cherish my time as a Met.”
Tebow, 33, began his pro baseball career in 2017 at the Single-A level. Despite not playing since high school, he batted .220/.311/.336 with a .647 OPS in his first season. He performed admirably in his second full season, batting .273/.336/.399 with a .735 OPS in his second season in pro ball, which was at Double-A.
Tebow was pushed up to Triple-A in 2019 and seemed to hit his ceiling, as he batted .163 in 77 games at that level. The pandemic railroaded his career, as there were no minor leagues last year, hurting his development.
Tebow is probably now ready to find a new pursuit for his life. He finishes his minor-league career with a .223 batting average, .637 OPS and 18 career home runs.
This news probably isn’t surprising for anyone who read his comments in November.
Photo: Sports Spectrum/Wikimedia via CC-BY-SA 4.0
