Tim Tebow retires from baseball after five years as a minor leaguer with the New York Mets.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner returned to baseball for the first time since high school year in 2016, reaching Triple-A, encouraged by then-general manager and current team chairman Sandy Alderson.
Tebow, who works as a football analyst for ESPN’s SEC Network off-season, played 77 games at baseball’s top minor league level in 2019, hitting .163 with four home runs. He ended his career with an average of .223 over 287 games.
“I want to thank the Mets, Alderson, the fans and all my teammates for the opportunity to be part of such a great organization,” Tebow said in a statement released by New York on Wednesday. I loved every minute of the journey, but right now I feel called in other directions.
“I never want to be partial to anything. I always want to be 100% involved in whatever I choose. Thanks again for the support of everyone for this amazing journey in baseball, I will always treasure my time.”
The 33-year-old outfielder, a lefty-hitting outfielder, was invited to spring practice in the Major League this season and took one of New York’s 75 spots after Major League Baseball restricted the size of the spring roster as a precautionary measure for the coronavirus. Placers won’t report to the Mets’ jumping complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida until next week.
More than four spring practice sessions in the big league, Tebow hit .151 in 34 games, hitting his first and only homerun last spring before closing the camps.
“It was a pleasure to have Tim in our organization, as he has been a consummate professional throughout his four years with the Mets,” said Alderson. “By reaching the Triple-A level in 2019, he far exceeded expectations when he first entered the system in 2016 and should be very proud of his performance.”
Tebow’s baseball career started with a bang – he homered in his first professional at bat during an educational league game against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fall of 2016. Later that fall, he made headlines by comforting a fan who had suffered a seizure. in the front row of Tebow’s Arizona Fall League debut.
The former NFL quarterback was an All-Star at Double-A in 2018, hitting .273 with six homers in 84 games. He wrestled at Triple-A the following year and his season was cut short by a crack in his left hand.
This report uses information from The Associated Press.