You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and the first impression Tim Tebow left Port St. Lucie fans with will be a hard one to forget.
Tebow, playing in his first games with the Mets High Single-A affiliate since being promoted over the weekend, got a hit and a walk in the first game of a doubleheader. Then, he followed up that strong showing by hitting a homerun in his first at-bat of the second game.
Tebow and the Mets, have drawn a lot of scorn and criticism from the sports media, for getting promoted to Port St. Lucie after only hitting .220 and three homeruns in Low Single-A ball in Columbia. While nothing will ever alter the sports media’s perception of who Tebow is and what he stands for, some reevaluation of his baseball skill may be in order.
The homerun Tebow hit came off of Junior Fernandez of the Palm Beach Cardinals. Fernandez is the tenth ranked prospect in the Cardinals system. Translation: Tebow hit a homerun off of a guy who will very likely be pitching at Busch Stadium one day.
Interestingly, Tebow also hit a homerun on his first day with the Columbia Fireflies in April.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn