OT: Teebow homers on first pitch as a professional baseball player

[Keith A]

Just saw that Tim Teebow hit a home-run on his very first pitch as a pro baseball player...
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17660738

[wooly]

Considering all the haters that was pretty awesome.

[FlashUNC]

Its Sub-A ball.

[Keith A]

Its Sub-A ball.True, but given that hitting a baseball is reported to be "the hardest thing to do in sports"...it's a pretty good start.

[Dave B]

I think sports need someone like him to be successful. I have read enough of athletes beating up so and so, being arrrsted for this drug or that drug or their divorce being made public.

Good on him for not giving up on sport...I hope he is incredibly successful

[Elefantino]

The Donald J. Trump Foundation just paid $25,000 for the bat.

[wc1934]

True, but given that hitting a baseball is reported to be "the hardest thing to do in sports"...it's a pretty good start.

YUP - hitting a round ball with a round bat is very difficult - baseball is 3 inches and diameter of the bat is even smaller - maybe 2 ¾ inches. Thus, if you succeed a third of the time (3 out of 10) you are a superstar.

[Ralph]

He will fill up a grandstand! Isn't that the whole point of a sports team?

[93legendti]

I was an all star catcher and hit cleanup on my little league teams. I hit a few home runs. It is extremely hard to do. Regardless of the level. I never hit a home run when I tried to- that's when I struck out or popped up. I hit homers when I told myself to "just make contact and hit a single".

He is at that level because that's where he belongs for now.

When pros go down to AAA for rehab assignments they don't hit homers every game. Even against a minor league pitcher, it is very hard for a pro to hit a homer.

A home run is the perfect combination of reading the pitch, timing your swing, swinging correctly and putting the barrel on the ball while the ball is in the hitting zone.

Go to a batting cage and try to hit "fastballs" at 70mph from a machine and tell me how easy it is. Even knowing that every pitch is a fastball, it is HARD.

Good for Tebow.

[Elefantino]

YUP - hitting a round ball with a round bat is very difficult - baseball is 3 inches and diameter of the bat is even smaller - maybe 2 ¾ inches. Thus, if you succeed a third of the time (3 out of 10) you are a superstar.
"The hardest thing to do in baseball is hit a round ball with a round bat squarely."
- Ted Williams

[wc1934]

"The hardest thing to do in baseball is hit a round ball with a round bat squarely."
- Ted Williams

Splendid Splinter - last 400 hitter - Teddy Ballgame!

[Louis]

Who is the Tim Tebow person? Never heard of him.

[oldpotatoe]

Just saw that Tim Teebow hit a home-run on his very first pitch as a pro baseball player...
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17660738

Ya know, yes he's kinda strange sometimes but I read a decent guy who, even though won the Heisman, went nowhere..He's an athlete..hope it makes it, but really doubt it.

[RobJ]

My first thought too,was good for him and hopefully this shuts up the so called "experts". The kid has tenacity and drive. He's a great athlete and probably could still be in the NFL if he would have switched positions. With the idiots like Greg Hardy etc. we could use more like Tebow in all sports.

[batman1425]

Great documentary - "Fastball" (available on netflix) talks about the importance of the pitch in the sport and also the physics and physiology.

Really interesting discussion about how hitting a Fastball sits at what many experts believe to be at the very edge of unassisted human ability. 95-100ish MPH is basically the limit of how fast a human can throw, and the resulting reaction time needed to process and swing at something moving that fast from 60ft away (300ish milliseconds) is just slightly within human capability.

From an absolute physiology perspective hitting a fastball is just barely attainable - assuming the athlete as good as it is physiologically possible to be. Puts things in perspective.

[redir]

He hit that one right off the bat!

I'd say he's off to a good start.

[93legendti]

https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Couldnt-Other-Neurology-Sports/dp/0716730014

[ColonelJLloyd]

Its Sub-A ball.

And he finished 1 for 6.

[goonster]

And he finished 1 for 6.

This.

[54ny77]

Ain't that the truth.

Great article here.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1525054-how-tim-tebow-became-the-least-wanted-man-in-the-entire-nfl#

I'd prefer watching Tebow and his not-quite NFL-caliber QB ability all day long over any single one of these so-called athletes, who get paid untold amounts and are 1 step removed from being wards of the state:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/

I think sports need someone like him to be successful. I have read enough of athletes beating up so and so, being arrrsted for this drug or that drug or their divorce being made public.

Good on him for not giving up on sport...I hope he is incredibly successful

[bart998]

I still think Tebow is a better quarterback than Kaepernick, and a much better role model.

[ptourkin]

https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Couldnt-Other-Neurology-Sports/dp/0716730014

This. Jordan could also hit a batting practice fastball out of the park. (I saw him go 0-4 in Birmingham.) What he couldn't do was recognize pitches fast enough, something that even a low level minors player can do because of constant repetition. They test this with slides and it showed that even one of the greatest athletes of all time could not rewire his neurons to catch up with an average athlete who had years of repetition without break.

Deion and Bo Sanders and Brian Jordan had much shorter breaks from the game than Michael and Tim, who will even be taking time off to comment on football. Not gonna happen guys.

[ptourkin]

I still think Tebow is a better quarterback than Kaepernick, and a much better role model.

They both kneel for beliefs. You just choose one over the other. Others disagree.

[soulspinner]

considering all the haters that was pretty awesome.

+1

[William]

When pros go down to AAA for rehab assignments they don't hit homers every game. Even against a minor league pitcher, it is very hard for a pro to hit a homer.

A home run is the perfect combination of reading the pitch, timing your swing, swinging correctly and putting the barrel on the ball while the ball is in the hitting zone.

Go to a batting cage and try to hit "fastballs" at 70mph from a machine and tell me how easy it is. Even knowing that every pitch is a fastball, it is HARD.

Good for Tebow.

Yeah, I played Little League and I was pretty good at hitting, struck out some but when I hit, it was gone (Just didn't feel right not to swing. :) ). Around that time my mom started dating a guy she knew from HS who had been a minor league pitcher. When we "played" catch or when he wanted to pitch some balls for me to hit he would relive his glory days. It was freaking hard to hit when he would fire it up. Sometimes when we would throw the ball back and forth he would ramp it up and fire a blazing fastballs at me. I could literally hear crackling in the air as that ball got close. I learned to let those go most of the time because it would hurt like heck to try catching it without a catchers mitt.

Tebow may not be star material, but getting a hit at that level isn't easy either.







William

[unterhausen]

this thread is disappointing because I was hoping his days as a sports talker were over. He's bad enough that I will go do something more productive when he's on for any length of time.

He was fun to watch on the football field, too bad he couldn't make it work out.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Tebow may not be star material, but getting a hit at that level isn't easy either.


No, it's not. But a single hit is no basis to say the guy is a good or terrible baseball player. I think the guy should start one of those mega churches. That's where the money is.

[William]

No, it's not. But a single hit is no basis to say the guy is a good or terrible baseball player...

Agreed.




William

[Ken Robb]

Its Sub-A ball.

The report I read said it was a 91mph fastball so he proved he has pretty good bat speed and that must be encouraging. OTOH I think it's pretty common for rookies who have a fast start at the plate to have their success taper off as their strengths/weaknesses become known to pitchers. How many times have we read about promising rookies who ultimately failed "because they just couldn't hit a major league curveball"?

I hope he does well but there are thousands of much younger guys he has to beat out for a place in the bigs.

[Ken Robb]

FWIW I played a lot of tennis with all kinds of folks and every time I played someone who had played baseball at a major college (USC, UCLA, Stanford, and others)or in AAA or major league baseball (Steve Garvey) I saw a guy who hit the tennis ball very well. I believe that quote about hitting a baseball being one of the most difficult skills in sport.

[gasman]

While he's a great athlete and good role model for kids I think his chances of making it to the Show are slim and none. Yes, he hit a dinger at his first at-bat but to make it all the way you have to be able to do that again and again against a lot of really good pitchers. He's also a position player and there are a lot of guys who can chase down just about anything the moves and I'm not sure he's one of these guys.
I do wish him luck. He'll put butts in the seats but I'd be surprised if he even makes it to AAA ball.

[FlashUNC]

The report I read said it was a 91mph fastball so he proved he has pretty good bat speed and that must be encouraging. OTOH I think it's pretty common for rookies who have a fast start at the plate to have their success taper off as their strengths/weaknesses become known to pitchers. How many times have we read about promising rookies who ultimately failed "because they just couldn't hit a major league curveball"?

I hope he does well but there are thousands of much younger guys he has to beat out for a place in the bigs.

He openly admitted post-game to not swinging at any off-speed stuff. Anyone at the pro level can hit a fastball hard. It's that reaction time and prep that matters.

I doubt he'll see another fastball with an admission like that.

Best of luck to him, I hope he gets what he wants out of this, which is visibility for another book deal or speaking tour. This is about sustaining Brand Tebow.

[krhea]

They both kneel for beliefs. You just choose one over the other. Others disagree.

Ptourkin, excellent response, thanks.

[rain dogs]

I always find it fnny when one sport says it's the toughest, or most difficult or whatever... in almost a logic vacuum. What Tebow did was likely likely more probable than we think, and more so a "fluke".

But really, what's harder? Hitting a fastball or getting a hole-in-one? I played lots of different sports growing up and although I never faced 80+mph fastballs hitting a baseball isn't that hard.

For that matter, what about stopping a 80+mph wrist shot, or a 100+mph slapshot in ice hockey or a penalty shot?. 98% of the worlds population couldn't even get from the bench to the net wearing ice skates.... let alone even balance standing still and hope it hit them.

At least with shoe sports everyone knows how to stand and run.

If Tebow hit a homerun into a golf hole while wearing skates on ice, I'd be really impressed! :hello:

[Kobe]

Sam Snead and Ted Williams once argued whether it was harder to hit a golf ball or a baseball, until Snead said: “Ted, you don’t have to go up in the stands and play your foul balls. I do.”

Tebow is just a PT Barnum sideshow for anyone that wants to sell seats.

[oldpotatoe]

While he's a great athlete and good role model for kids I think his chances of making it to the Show are slim and none. Yes, he hit a dinger at his first at-bat but to make it all the way you have to be able to do that again and again against a lot of really good pitchers. He's also a position player and there are a lot of guys who can chase down just about anything the moves and I'm not sure he's one of these guys.
I do wish him luck. He'll put butts in the seats but I'd be surprised if he even makes it to AAA ball.

3 years old but interesting to say the least..a little long but info I didn't know.

https://medium.com/@imaliveoutthere/why-no-one-in-the-nfl-wants-tim-tebow-26d93b674ab5#.48yh6xxez

[93legendti]

Right. It is as simple as not throwing fastballs. Since any pro can hit a fastball, it makes you wonder why anyone throws fastballs...unless you realize pitching isn't throwing, and pitching involves location and changing speeds- ask post surgery Frank Tanana. Tanana was described as "the guy who threw 90 in the 70s and 70 in the 90s."

Hitters with a plan sit on a pitch.

Hitters without a plan are named Rob Deer- you know, the guy with a career .180 batting average and who led the league in striking out 4 times.

[oldpotatoe]

Right. It is as simple as not throwing fastballs. Since any pro can hit a fastball, it makes you wonder why anyone throws fastballs...unless you realize pitching isn't throwing, and pitching involves location and changing speeds- ask post surgery Frank Tanana. Tanana was described as "the guy who threw 90 in the 70s and 70 in the 90s."

Hitters with a plan sit on a pitch.

Hitters without a plan are named Rob Deer- you know, the guy with a career .180 batting average and who led the league in striking out 4 times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfoXMr_s4xI

[FlashUNC]

Right. It is as simple as not throwing fastballs. Since any pro can hit a fastball, it makes you wonder why anyone throws fastballs...unless you realize pitching isn't throwing, and pitching involves location and changing speeds- ask post surgery Frank Tanana. Tanana was described as "the guy who threw 90 in the 70s and 70 in the 90s."

Hitters with a plan sit on a pitch.

Hitters without a plan are named Rob Deer- you know, the guy with a career .180 batting average and who led the league in striking out 4 times.

Of course if isn't. That's kinda a big part of the game I'm the interplay between hitter and pitcher, with one trying to keep the other off balance. But when you have a guy openly admitting in instructional league he's not even looking for breaking or off speed stuff, or changing his approach based on the count, and just swinging at fastballs to go 1 for 6, then what, he's hoping to be Rob Deer or Adam Dunn?

Great plan if you're trying to keep your name top of mind for the punters in the seats, less so if you actually want to make a career of it.

[93legendti]

Right. Because laying off a change up is easy. Makes you wonder why every MLB game has a hitter frozen by a change up - you know the pitch that looks like a fastball until about 30' from the plate.

I get it. People hate Tebow.

It's cool he hit a home run in his first at bat. Too bad people can't enjoy the beauty of it.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Too bad people can't enjoy the beauty of it.

Most people are responding with "big effing deal" because, well, big effing deal.

[93legendti]

Because anyone at the pro level can hit a fastball:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/all-star-game-remember-when-randy-johnson-vs-john-kruk/

[Corso]

Ancient history, but here’s why I don’t like Tebo:

His mom sued the state of Florida-to have her home-schooled son the right to play football in a public High school. Won the case, first ever in the country.

Then she moved and lived in a hotel so Tim could play at a top tier HS.

Basically proving you could drive around the entire state, rent a room and have your kid play in any community you really didn’t ave roots in.

So I always thought about the kids who grew up in a community, were quarterbacks, and got screwed out of a spots due to the Tebow’s cherry picking.

So the super christian family f’d over others.

Nice.

Details may be foggy, i’m going from memory. Some may call it a “smart move”, I call it a scummy.

[fuzzalow]

This guy is a scuzzbag. Whatta self serving schmuck. Never has anyone got so far with so little.

Why does anyone pay any mind to this guy? My goodness me, live your own lives and don't have anything this attention-whoring buffoon does intersect with your consciousness. Sports idolatry is Soma for the unwashed masses but this guy isn't even in that circus - he is outside of the big tent doing dog tricks at the side-show. Who watches that? Gimme a break. He oughtta be doing babyoil wrestling with Ryan Lockte.

[geeter]

A guy I work with played some independent league ball years ago. He said what bothers him and others is that someone who has dedicated a lot of their life to baseball loses a spot to Tebow. Some of those guys work for years holding on to the chance to get to the show.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[gdw]

Lighten up folks. If the guy doesn't have the goods he won't be on any team's roster.

[Louis]

But he genuflects ostentatiously after a touchdown, so he must be a good guy.

[unterhausen]

Lighten up folks. If the guy doesn't have the goods he won't be on any team's roster.

he refuses to go away.

I really was hoping he would learn enough to play in the NFL, but no joy. He seems to have good advisers that have kept him from showing his ass. But he has zero talent as a sports talker, and i doubt he ever will. I'm sure we're stuck with him though, unless he does something really stupid. I don't see that happening in the near term.

I have no idea why some people think he's so wonderful. There are large numbers of clean-living, highly religious people in football. He fits right in. Sanchez and he used to have a prayer circle on the sidelines, two hack quarterbacks praying to make it through the game uninjured.

[wildboar]

Now people are going to be lining up at the games to be healed by the almighty

http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/11/report-tim-tebow-saves-fan-from-seizure-after-laying-his-hands-on-him-and-praying/

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[binxnyrwarrsoul]

He will fill up a grandstand!

This. And I'd bet many of those seats will be taken by women.

[ptourkin]

http://deadspin.com/espns-keith-law-calls-tim-tebow-a-farce-and-an-imposter-1787808981?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebo ok&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

"Tebow the baseball player is not a baseball player; he’s a washed-up quarterback who has size and nothing else. His swing is long, and he wields the bat like someone who hasn’t played the sport in more than a decade, which he hasn’t. He can’t catch up to 90 mph, which is well below the major league average for a fastball, and was cutting through fastballs in the zone on Wednesday night. He rolled over twice on fastballs, which is something you generally see professional hitters do only on off-speed stuff, and he showed below-average running speed. In left field, his routes look like those of a wide receiver, although he managed to eventually make his way around to a fly ball in left.

In short, there’s absolutely no baseball justification for Tebow to be here."

[mellowandre]

He's got the JC on his side!

[FlashUNC]

Seems ol Timmy is a worse hitter than he was a QB, and that's saying something.

http://deadspin.com/after-3-days-jesus-rose-from-the-dead-after-4-days-t-1787912699

Its almost like this whole thing was a marketing stunt.

[oldpotatoe]

Seems ol Timmy is a worse hitter than he was a QB, and that's saying something.

http://deadspin.com/after-3-days-jesus-rose-from-the-dead-after-4-days-t-1787912699

Its almost like this whole thing was a marketing stunt.

Bing, bing, bing, we have a winner. 'athlete' with an agent who's trying to keep him 'relevant'....

[ColonelJLloyd]

Bing, bing, bing, we have a winner. 'athlete' with an agent who's trying to keep him 'relevant'....

I've been saying it all along. He's drumming up PR before announcing the ground breaking of his own mega church. This dude is going to rake in the tithes, man.

[malcolm]

I'm not a tebow and not sure why. I'm not a fan of ostentatious religious displays in sport. I think it's unnecessary and more of a hey look at me, but that's just me.
I would like to see Tebow get a real shot to play. He can't be worse than several of the current starters out there. His actual numbers from starts don't look that bad.

[ptourkin]

I'm not a tebow and not sure why. I'm not a fan of ostentatious religious displays in sport. I think it's unnecessary and more of a hey look at me, but that's just me.
I would like to see Tebow get a real shot to play. He can't be worse than several of the current starters out there. His actual numbers from starts don't look that bad.

He's 0-12 with 5ks after his first four games in an actual league. Not sure how it can be worse unless he made a bunch of errors.

[malcolm]

He's 0-12 with 5ks after his first four games in an actual league. Not sure how it can be worse unless he made a bunch of errors.

Sorry talking football, where he actually has a chance. Pro baseball no way.

[FlashUNC]

Sorry talking football, where he actually has a chance. Pro baseball no way.

Four pro teams have given him a shot. I think the QB dream is dead too.

Tough to be a 29 year old QB who can't throw.

[saab2000]

Sorry talking football, where he actually has a chance. Pro baseball no way.

He has no chance in football anymore.

I too wanted to like him and give him a chance. When the Tebow mania was in full swing I hadn't really seen him play or throw the ball. But I remember people saying he had an awkward throwing motion and didn't throw at an NFL level. Then I saw him play and sure enough, he can't throw the ball at an NFL level.

I hate to say it, but as a quarterback he's subpar material and even a lowly fan of the game like myself can see this.

The only team where he would have made sense (Jacksonville) said in no uncertain terms they didn't want him.

It's too bad because he's an easy guy to like and root for but the NFL is too quick a game for his type of play at quarterback and he's said he's not interested in other positions.

[malcolm]

He has no chance in football anymore.

I too wanted to like him and give him a chance. When the Tebow mania was in full swing I hadn't really seen him play or throw the ball. But I remember people saying he had an awkward throwing motion and didn't throw at an NFL level. Then I saw him play and sure enough, he can't throw the ball at an NFL level.

I hate to say it, but as a quarterback he's subpar material and even a lowly fan of the game like myself can see this.

The only team where he would have made sense (Jacksonville) said in no uncertain terms they didn't want him.

It's too bad because he's an easy guy to like and root for but the NFL is too quick a game for his type of play at quarterback and he's said he's not interested in other positions.

I tend to agree, but I've read several articles recently that presents his numbers in a very positive light. Seems like they show him to have done better than I thought. I would have thought if Elway thought he didn't have the tools he clearly must not have the tools, but if his numbers really were pretty good what's the deal.

[saab2000]

I tend to agree, but I've read several articles recently that presents his numbers in a very positive light. Seems like they show him to have done better than I thought. I would have thought if Elway thought he didn't have the tools he clearly must not have the tools, but if his numbers really were pretty good what's the deal.

He had a great team around him. As soon as Elway brought Peyton Manning into Denver they turned into a Super Bowl team, appearing twice and winning once. Tebow was surrounded by great players on a great team.

I firmly believe Jacksonville was the best fit for him. He would have had a built-in fan base. The team is historically not great so there's much less pressure on one player. In other words, if they don't win it's no big surprise. He could have developed his career for a season or two there but they wanted no part of it, which surprised me because he would have been a big draw in a market that can't fill the stadium.