Photo by Allen Kee / ESPN Images(PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla.) — Tim Tebow’s spring training debut didn’t go quite the way he wanted it, but the former football player turned outfielder isn’t ready to quit.
Getting a start in the New York Mets’ game against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, Tebow went hitless in three at-bats, hitting into a double play and striking out twice. He did reach base once, on a hit-by-pitch, but was immediately doubled off base on a line drive out.
Tebow played designated hitter and hit eighth in the lineup.
Tebow briefly questioned the home plate umpire on each of his strikeouts, saying later that he questioned whether the pitches weren’t outside the strike zone.
“I think I learned a lot of things,” Tebow said. “Just getting in there and seeing pitches for the first time, competing.”
“I felt okay, put some good swings when I swung. You just learn. It was the first day for me, getting a chance to compete, and I’ll learn a lot from it,” he added.
Before his first plate appearance, Tebow walked around home plate over to the Boston Red Sox on-deck circle. He was quickly waved back to the Mets’ side of the field. Tebow later explained that he thought that as a left-handed hitter, he was supposed to be on that side of the field.
Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello said he wasn’t bothered by the incident. “I didn’t know who that was,” he explained. “I thought it was a ballboy.”
Tebow is expected to get another start in the Mets’ spring training game on Friday.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
