Will Tim Tebow be better than Michael Jordan?

Tim Tebow hit a home run in his first Double-A at-bat, but will he be better than Michael Jordan was in Double-A 24 years ago?

TEBOW!!! The Tim Tebow Experience kicked off the 2018 season in fine fashion on Thursday. He hit a three-run home run his first time up for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies. It was reminiscent of his first at-bat last year for the Columbia Fireflies when he launched a two-run home run. The guy knows how to make a good first impression.

The Tebow homer was especially surprising after he looked completely overmatched in spring training with the Mets. He was 1-for-18 with 11 strikeouts and just one walk. He also wasn’t particularly effective at the plate last year, when he struck out 26 percent of the time with Class-A Columbia and High-A St. Lucie and slugged .347 with a .309 OBP.

There was plenty of negative reaction to the Tebow home run news on Twitter, which isn’t surprising when it comes to Tebow. He has his supporters and detractors, but the detractors seem more prominent and outwardly hostile to his attempts at playing professional baseball.

There is also a sizeable group that simply doesn’t care and doesn’t want to hear about Tebow. He’s a 30-year-old playing Double-A for the first time. He’s not a prospect. If he didn’t have the Tim Tebow name and background, you wouldn’t be reading about him.

Twenty-four years ago, there was an even more famous athlete from another sport attempting to play professional baseball. Michael Jordan was 31 years old when he played one season of Double-A ball for the Birmingham Barons in 1994. This was during his “break” from the NBA after winning three straight titles with the Chicago Bulls.