HEADLINE

Tebow belts first career spring HR

Field Level Media

February 25, 2020 at 11:36 pm.

Tim Tebow hit his first home run in four spring training stints with the New York Mets on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback homered off Detroit right-hander Alex Wilson in the sixth inning at Lakeland, Fla. The Tigers defeated the Mets 9-6.

Tebow belted a 3-2 pitch to left-center for a two-run blast, his first career spring extra-base hit. All nine of his previous spring training hits with the Mets were singles.

“I had a chance to see a few (pitches), and just tried to be tight and on time,” Tebow told MLB.com. “It feels really good. I feel like I’m seeing the ball pretty good.”

At Lakeland, Tebow spoke with former National League MVP Kirk Gibson, who similar to Tebow’s father Bob is battling Parkinson’s disease. Gibson is a special advisor in Detroit’s front office.

“He was just encouraging me, saying some nice things,” Tebow said. “It was nice of him.”

Tebow batted .150 (9-for-60) through three spring trainings with New York before this year.

The outfielder batted .163 with four homers and 19 RBIs in 77 games with Syracuse of the International League (Triple-A) last season, which ended prematurely due to a deep finger laceration.