LAKELAND, Fla. _ Tim Tebow's baseball odyssey will continue in South Carolina with the Columbia Fireflies, the Mets' low Class-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League, where he will play every day as he attempts his transition from quarterback to corner outfielder.
"Sending him to a full-season club is what we hoped to be able to do," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told Newsday on Monday. "And based on what he's done in spring training, and his whole body of work since last fall, we feel comfortable with him going to Columbia."
The Mets have been consistent in saying that Tebow's development is tied to playing in as many games possible. Not long after instructional league, he was sent to the Arizona Fall League, even though Alderson said the Mets knew he'd be "somewhat overmatched, especially early on."
It's also why Alderson said Tebow likely would have been sent to low-A Columbia had he looked overmatched in spring training, with live game action continuing to be the priority.
But Tebow is hitting .235 in spring training, hardly the stuff of a big-time prospect but far from looking completely lost at the plate. He started in left field for the Mets on Monday against the Tigers, his eighth big-league game of the spring.
"We were concerned that it might be a stretch at some point, or could be a stretch," Alderson said. "But what he's done in spring training has convinced us that this is where he should go. And he's prepared for it."
Tebow, 29, hadn't played baseball since high school. And the rust has showed with late swings and at least one misread of a routine flyball in left field. But he has made hard contact and even made a diving catch while playing right field.
"He's obviously very athletic and he has adapted very quickly," Alderson said. "His approach at the plate is very solid. He doesn't chase pitches. People might say his swing is a little long but the swing is professional. When he's made contact, it's often been hard contact. ... Defensively, it's still a work in progress, but it's adequate. He's made some nice plays, again demonstrating the athleticism that everybody's seen he has."
Since a rough start in the Arizona Fall League, Alderson said Tebow has "improved pretty dramatically."
"And the other thing is he's fit in well with his teammates," Alderson said. "There hasn't been much in the way of criticism or jealousy or anything of that sort from his teammates. Again, that goes to what kind of a person he is."
With Tebow ticketed for his highest level of play, Alderson again bristled at the notion of the former Heisman Trophy winner being little more than a publicity stunt, one that takes away a roster spot for a worthy minor-leaguer.
"That's such a bogus argument," Alderson said. "We've got lots of room for lots of players at lots of different levels. The fact that he's starting at Columbia, he's really not taking anybody's spot. By the way, we have lots of players in our organization who are just that: organizational players. Not every player that we have is a top prospect, whose opportunity is being curtailed by Tim Tebow or anybody else."
It's unclear how many more games Tebow will play in with the Mets during major-league spring training, or whether he'll play right or left for Columbia. But he will be playing every day, and doing so soon, much of the reason he will be in the South Atlantic League rather than in short-season Brooklyn, which doesn't begin play until June 19.
Tebow's Columbia debut is slated for April 6 against Augusta.
"We might have stretched anyway even in the absence of evidence of progress, because we felt so strongly that he just needed to play in games," Alderson said of Tebow's assignment. "But we certainly feel very comfortable with him going to Columbia after seeing the last few weeks."
