Tim Tebow retires from baseball after five years as a minor league player with the New York Mets.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner returned to baseball for the first time since his freshman year of high school in 2016, taking Triple-A, encouraged by then-general manager and current Mets president, Sandy Alderson.
Tebow, who works for ESPN’s SEC Network as an off-season analyst, played 77 games at the top level of the minor leagues in 2019 with a .163 batting average with four home runs. He ended his career with an average of .223 in over 287 games.
“I want to thank the Mets, Alderson, the fans and all my teammates for the opportunity to be part of this great organization,” Tebow said in a statement from the Mets. “I loved every minute of the adventure, but right now I feel like I have to go in a different direction.
“I have never wanted to be a part of anything, I always want to be 100 percent in what I choose. Thanks again to all of you for your support in this incredible adventure in baseball. I will always happily remember this time, ” he added.
A left-handed outfielder, the now 33-year-old former player was invited to Major League Baseball Spring Camp this season, taking one of 75 spots after the Majors limited the size of their spring training rosters as a precautionary measure for the coronavirus.
The players of the Mets position will report until next week.
In four spring camps, Tebow batted .151 in 34 games and hit his first and only homerun last spring before closing the camps due to the pandemic.
“It was a pleasure to have Tim in our organization as a consummate professional in his four years with the Mets,” said Alderson. “By reaching Triple-A in 2019, he far exceeded expectations when he entered the system in 2016 and should be very proud of his achievements.”
Tebow’s baseball career got off to a strong start when he hit a homerun on his first professional at bat in an educational league game against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fall of 2016. Later that fall, he was known for reassuring a fan who during his Arizona Fall League debut was attacked in the front row of the stands.
The former NFL quarterback, who was selected by the Denver Broncos in the first round of the 2010 draft, was part of the All-Star team in Double-A in 2018, hitting .273 with six home runs in 84 matches. He fought at Triple-A the following year and his season ended early with a cut on his left hand.
This report uses information from AP.