Tim Tebow will retire from baseball after five years as a league player with the New York Mets.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner returned to baseball in 2016 for the first time since his freshman year in high school and came to Triple-A, encouraged by then-general manager and current Mets president Sandy Alderson.
Tebow, who works for ESPN’s SEC Network as a college football analyst in the offseason, played in 77 games at the highest minor league level in 2019 with an average of 163 with the bat with four homers. He finished his career averaging .223 in more than 287 games.
“I want to thank the Mets, Alderson, the fans, and all my teammates for the opportunity to be a part of this great organization,” Tebow said in a statement released by the Mets. “I loved every minute of the adventure, but right now, I feel like I have to go in other directions.
“I’ve never wanted to be partially part of anything, I always want to be 100 percent in whatever I choose. Thank you all again for your support in this amazing baseball adventure. I will always fondly remember that time,” he added.
As a left fielder, the now 33-year-old former player was invited to the major league spring camp this season, with one of 75 places after the Majors limited the size of the spring training rosters as a precaution for coronavirus .
The Mets ’position players are scheduled to report until next week.
In four spring camps, Tebow batted 151 in 34 games and connected on his first and only home run last spring, before the camps were closed due to the pandemic.
“It’s been a pleasure to have Tim in our organization as a consummate professional in his four years with the Mets,” Alderson said. “By reaching the Triple-A level in 2019, it far exceeded expectations when it entered the system in 2016 and should be very proud of its achievements.”
Tebow’s baseball career got off to a strong start, when he made a home run in his first inning as a professional in an instructional league game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Louis Cardinals in the fall of 2016. Later this fall, he stood out for reassuring a fan who suffered a seizure in the front row of the stands in his Arizona Fall League debut.
The former NFL quarterback, who was selected in the first round of the 2010 draft by the Denver Broncos, was a member of the All-Star team in Double-A in 2018, when he beat by 273 with six home runs and 84 games. He fought Triple-A the following year and his season ended early with a cut on his left hand.
AP information was used in this report.