The New York Mets will have 14 players on different rosters at the upcoming World Baseball Classic. The void leaves space in the team’s Major League camp. One player who will fill that void is Tim Tebow.
According to Joel Sherman of The New York Post, Tebow will play on Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox and Friday against the Houston Astros.
Per ESPN’s Scott Lauber, manager Terry Collins said that Tebow will start at DH on Wednesday.
As Sherman detailed, a big part of this is Tebow’s draw. Both games will be played from New York’s spring training home in Port St. Lucie, and the Mets will certainly enjoy the extra attention (and money) that will come with Tebow in action.
But from a pure baseball standpoint, these games will also give Tebow a chance to show what he can do.
Tebow is 29 and has virtually no professional baseball experience. Anyone with that resume has virtually no chance of making any Major League roster coming out of camp, let alone that of a contender. But the chances of him ever playing in the majors go up if he shows well in two Major League spring training games.
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast nationally at 1:00 PM Eastern time on The MLB Network.