Crazy stat shows Tim Tebow choosing baseball was the right call

Tim Tebow will never be good enough at baseball to make it in the majors, right?

That’s the narrative all the pundits have been throwing around since spring training, and it’s one that has prevailed, even as the former NFL and college football star has helped bring in fans at prodigious numbers at the minor league level.

Not that bringing in fans equates to on-field success in every case. And in the case of Tebow, his play wasn’t the biggest reason fans started flocking to minor league stadiums this spring and summer. No, he’s simply one of the most popular athletes in America, and that won’t change even if he flamed out in baseball the way he did in the NFL.

Early on, it seemed like the pundits were on point. Playing for the Columbia Fireflies, he had more strikeouts than hits, finishing his stint there with a measly .220 average with three home runs and 23 RBI in 244 plate appearances — pretty awful numbers for a guy whose power has been listed as his best attribute at the plate.

Then, to the surprise of many, the Mets promoted Tebow to their A-Advanced team in St. Lucie. The organization didn’t even shy away from admitting the move was at least in part a publicity stunt.

But since he was promoted, Tebow has suddenly become…dare we say it, good?

He didn’t waste any time showing off his power with a home run, and his brilliant play in the outfield made headlines nationally.

Oh, and now he’s hitting walk-off home runs, apparently.

Through 16 games with his new team, Tebow is batting .327 with three home runs (matching his total at low-A Columbia) and 10 RBI.

Even better?

He’s on an 11-game hitting streak, which, funny enough, is relatively better than anything he did at the NFL level in terms of consistency.

This crazy stat shows that Tebow really did make the right call to pursue baseball over his NFL dream.

He’s improving. Of that there is no doubt. And while the doubters will continue to doubt, Tebow continues to believe in himself and push himself towards a goal most of us don’t believe he’s capable of achieving.

Consider us intrigued, at this point, about the possibility that Tebow really can continue improving enough to get called up this year to the MLB level. The Mets aren’t exactly lighting things up these days. If that trend continues throughout the second half of the season, then the big-league team has nothing to lose by calling him up at the end of the season. Lord knows, it will help attendance numbers.

And who knows? Maybe he’ll be good.