Tim Tebow retires from baseball after five years as a minor league player at the New York Mets.
The winner of the 2007 Heisman Trophy returned to baseball in 2016 for the first time in high school and reached Triple-A, which has since encouraged the general manager and current president of the team Sandy Alderson.
Tebow, who works for ESPN’s SEC network as an off-season football analyst, played 77 games at the highest level of the minor league baseball in 2019, beating .163 with four at home. He finished his career averaging .223 over 287 games.
“I want to thank the Mets, Alderson, fans and all my teammates for the chance to be part of such a great organization,” Tebow said in a statement released by New York on Wednesday. “I liked every minute of the trip, but at this moment I feel called in other directions.
“I never want to partially participate in anything. I always want to participate 100% in whatever I choose. Thanks again for everyone’s support for this wonderful trip in baseball, I will always value my time.”
A left-handed outfielder, the 33-year-old has been invited to spring training in the major leagues this season, taking one of 75 places in New York, after the size of the Major League spring list was limited as a measure of caution for coronavirus. Position players should not show up at the Mets Spring Resort in Port St. Lucie, Florida, until next week.
Over four major league spring training sessions, Tebow has beaten .151 in 34 games, connecting for his first and only homer last spring before the camps closed.
“It was a pleasure to have Tim in our organization because he was a perfect professional in his four years with the Mets,” Alderson said. “Reaching the Triple-A level in 2019, it far exceeded expectations when it first entered the system in 2016 and should be very proud of its achievements.”
Tebow’s baseball career began with an explosion – he managed his first professional batting during an instructional league game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Louis in the fall of 2016. Later that fall, he made game titles consoling a fan who had a crisis. first of Tebow’s debut in the Arizona Fall League.
The former NFL defender was All-Star at Double-A in 2018, when he beat .273 with six homers in 84 games. He fought at Triple-A the following year and had his season shortened by a left laceration.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.