A former major-league pitcher counted himself impressed after throwing batting practice to Tim Tebow.
“When I walked away, as a pitcher, I was pretty impressed,” David Aardsma, a nine-season Major League Baseball veteran, told the New York Daily News. “He needs to see a lot more pitching and understand what the pitcher is watching and seeing from him and adjusting. That’s not something you know until you’re in it.”
Aardsma said that Tebow working counts, lowering the plane of his swing to his sliders, and taking him deep all wowed him.
Tebow showcases his skills before scouts for upwards of 20 organizations on August 30 in Los Angeles. He last played organized baseball as a high school junior. After the Philadelphia Eagles cut him at the end of last year’s training camp, Tebow’s athletic career appeared done. But the football broadcaster now wants to become a baseball player.
Relief pitcher Aardsma thinks Tebow should play in instructional league and winter ball. He says he could see the former Heisman Trophy-winner playing in Double-A next year. Watching Tebow fetch balls after hitting them made Aardsma think the humble Tebow could withstand the rigors of minor-league baseball.
“He doesn’t appear to me like riding a bus and grinding it out is anything he’d mind,” Aardsma told the Daily News. “He wants to grind it out.”
