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Recap: Tim Tebow finishes season strong in the Arizona Fall League

Posted at 12:54 PM, Nov 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-19 10:36:37-05

The news of the Tim Tebow baseball experiment lit up the sports (and Twitter) world back in September. Now, just two months in, the New York Mets prospect has a full season under his belt in the Arizona Fall League.

So how did Tim Tebow perform?

His final stat line reads like this: .194 AVG, .296 OBP, 0 HR, 2 RBI

At first glance, that’s a rather rough start to his baseball career. However, if you dig a little deeper, there are several promising notes to be taken.

He started off 0-13 at the beginning of the season and had a rough first month, but had a much better second half including a walk off hit late in the season. In his final ten games, Tebow hit .267 and had a .405 OBP.

Tebow also hit .286 with bases empty for the season, and had a .359 OBP with bases empty. Learning to hit in clutch situations is something that has to be developed over time, as a player becomes more comfortable in the batter’s box. Getting hits without anyone on is a good sign of what could develop given some playing time in the minors.

His strikeouts (20 in 62 at bats) were discouraging. But, considering Tebow hadn’t played organized baseball in years and was facing the top minor league pitchers in the league, it isn’t surprising. That, too, is something that can be worked on and should improve over time.

Final grade: C+

Given the fact that Tebow’s baseball career is only two months in the making, he showed promise learning to feel comfortable at the plate after drastic improvements going into the second half of the season. With that said, he still didn’t “wow” any scouts by any means and won't be close to a major league roster in all likelihood for quite some time, if at all. Tebow is expected to get an invite to the Mets spring training camp, but is expected to battle for a spot on the Single-A or Double-A Mets affiliate teams and will have to try to work his way up from there.