New York Mets: Tim Tebow to play for the Philippines in the WBC
The Philippine-born New York Mets minor leaguer, Tim Tebow will play for the Philippines during the WBC qualifying games beginning in early March.
The reason New York Mets minor leaguer Tim Tebow is able to represent the Philippines in the WBC is because he was born there in 1987 while his parents were on a Baptist mission there and he moved to the United States right before his 5th birthday.
Maybe this is to help Tebow, who is still languishing in the Mets minor league system, get some extra at-bats to help prepare him for the season. He has made it well-known his goal is to end up in the major leagues, but to this point, he hasn’t been close.
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The closest he has come to reaching the majors is this past season when he played 77 games with the Met’s Triple-A affiliate, the Syracuse Mets. He had played well in Double-A to that point, with a slash line of .273/.336/.399 and showed signs of possibly being ready for the big show.
Unfortunately, the success of the Double-A stint didn’t translate to the Triple-A game. He posted his worst stat line in his minor league time. He went .163/.240/.255 with four home runs and 10 RBI’s.
That is unfortunately not good enough to result in a call-up to the parent club. In three minor league seasons, he has a career .223/.299/.338 slash line with 18 home runs and 17 RBI’s over that time spread out between all minor league levels.
Hopefully, the additional reps will help Tebow improve on these numbers, but I really don’t think so. He has essentially put the New York Mets in a no-win situation. He doesn’t seem like he will progress enough to be an everyday player or even a utility one.
His age also is not helping his case. He’s 32 years old and has yet to sniff the majors. They can’t justify moving him up to the parent club, but they also can’t release him. Tim Tebow is a popular enough figure that there would be a backlash among his fans if he were ever released.
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How he does in qualifiers for the WBC remains to be seen, but hopefully, it helps him improve his game with the additional reps.