Major League Baseball

Gary Sheffield believes Tim Tebow has the ability to succeed in MLB

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:07 p.m. ET

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Pete Blackburn

When it was reported that former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow would be pursuing a career in professional baseball, many people scoffed at the idea. After all, Tebow's football career stalled, he's about to turn 29 years old, and he hasn't played competitive baseball since junior year of high school.

Despite those deterrents, former MLB star Gary Sheffield believes in Tebow's baseball ability. The longtime outfielder and current sports agent took to Twitter to vouch for Tebow, whom he calls "a natural."

Tebow may have very well impressed in the cages -- he hit .494 during his final year of competitive baseball -- but that's no guarantee that MLB teams will be willing to take a shot on a 29-year-old failed football player. And it certainly doesn't mean that he'll succeed at the highest level of competition, especially after having spent so much time away from the game.

As for the "it" factor that Sheffield believes Tebow possesses, that was a common praise for Tebow the football player as well. It was part of the reason the Broncos made the surprising decision to take him in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, and that didn't work out so well for them. Tebow is already the physical embodiment of the idea that possessing skill and nurtured ability is much more important than having whatever "it" is.

Who knows, maybe Tebow will have better luck with baseball than he did with professional football. But considering his age and the fact that pro baseball players typically take years to develop before being able to contribute consistently at the major-league level, that seems unlikely. At the very least, though, the independent league offers already rolling in.

Regardless of what Sheffield says, Tebow being an effective MLB player is a huge stretch. In all likelihood, that endorsement is coming from Sheffield the agent more than it's coming from Sheffield the MLB veteran.

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