Tebow cites comfort as reason for recent surge

usatoday.com ^ | Jon Santucci

[RetiredArmy]

Most players improve with age, especially as they mature both physically and mentally in any sport. In my unprofessional opinion baseball is the hardest sport a kid can play. You can learn to shoot a basketball and learn to run over other players on the football field. But, learning to hit a baseball takes time, sometimes a lot of time. Some players like Harper and Trout are simply born with outstanding eye and hand coordination and are natural born players. Others take years.

You can research it, but there are lots of players that are poor or average hitters, with little power early in their careers, and then along about 29-31 they hit their stride and become decent players. Baseball was my sport as a kid. I was a decent hitter. But got better as I matured in size and strength with age. I was not big enough to dunk a basketball. I was not big enough in size to play football at my high school. I was not very fast. Not 6-4 and 255.

I was 5-9 and 160 pounds until I entered the Army at 18. In the military, for the first time, I was put on a real physical fitness program and I gained up to 185 pounds by the time I completed basic training and advanced infantry training. In five months I exploded. Gained 25 pounds of muscle and strength. Back then we did not hit the gyms like they do today. Our high school didn't even have a weight room. Just had a few free weights in the dressing room area. No real program to build you up. This was in the 1960s. You were mostly as big as you were going to be by how much you ate.

I believe the hardest thing in individual sport to learn is to hit a round ball with a round bat, squarely!! But, professional hitters can hit a fast ball. I have heard tons of talking heads on radio and TV all say that if all a pitcher is doing is throwing fast balls, he will get hit! And hit hard! The change up is the great weapon of a fast ball pitcher. The changing speeds is what keeps the batter off stride. That smig of a second is the difference in making solid contact. But if they throw nothing but hard stuff, they will get hit. Go look at the stats this year. How many guys are out there throwing 95 or greater?? Bunches of them. Now, go look at all of those same pitchers who have ERA's over 4.00 or higher. Tons of them. Just throwing hard does not necessarily make you a stud. Having that pitch with a wrinkle in it is the thing that keeps the hitters off the fast ball all day long.

[Let's Roll]

You, sir, are correct.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

“Most anyone can hit a fast ball.”

I should have stopped reading when you stopped thinking.

Not much on baseball are you? The grand majority of major league players can hit a fastball.

A large number of major league players cannot hit a fastball. They are called, “pitchers.” (even some pitchers can - but the reason “pitchers can’t hit” is simply that most people cannot hit a fastball). Pitchers are the only exception to the rule that you can’t be a major league player without being able to hit a fastball.

We are discussing Tim Tebow’s possibilities as a player - and no one doubts that, absent any claim of his being a capable pitcher, his being able to hit a fastball is sine qua non for his chances of ever getting to the bigs. It’s not enough by itself, but typing an FR post doesn’t qualify anyone to be able to do that. All major league pitchers have secondary pitches, and any player who can hit a fastball but nothing else will see no fastballs in the strike zone. Except in the atypical case that the pitcher he’s facing can’t get anything else over the plate at that particular moment.

It was inevitable that Tebow would get on a minor team if he wanted to - get down to a low enough level, and teams are desperate for revenue, and Tebow has a lot of well-wishers. I’m doubtful that he ever plays well - or at all - in the bigs. But the man is taking one day at a time, and I certainly can too.

His chances are not all that different from those of Vince Papale, who didn’t play college football and tried out with the Eagles years afterward. Funny thing how that worked out . . .

[jeffersondem]

“I not only played baseball and fast pitch soft ball until I was 41, but I umpired both, along with football, basketball and soccer.”

The article, and this thread, is about Tim Tebow. It was not intended to be about you.

Now, if you are an owner, manager, or coach of the Mets, I would be interested in your evaluation of Tebow.

[dfwgator]

He will never see a pitch in the majors. Tim is a nice guy, but he has zero major league skills. Most anyone can hit a fast ball. Was watching the MLB show a short while ago that shows all the high lights of last nights games. Some guy from Cincinnati, not bigger than 185 pounds max, turned on a 100 MPH fastball and hit it over the right field wall. Fast balls can be hit out. This season is proof of that in that so many are hitting homeruns while you have 95% of the leagues throwing 95 MPH or greater. The THING is, can you hit a pitch that has “wrinkles” in it?

Reminds me "Cerrano" from "Major League"........"I can no hit curve ball. Straight ball, I hit it very much. Curve ball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come, take fear from bats. I offer him cigar and rum. He will come."

[RetiredArmy]

Your comment concerning pitchers is stupid. The AL pitchers do not even hit. Pitchers are not called hitters, they are called pitchers. Using them in your so called explanation is stupid. We’re done here. Talking to someone like you who is probably the fat kit who never played anything but the tuba is a waste of time. Go away.

[Hot Tabasco]

Reminds me of how remarkable Michael Jordan was.

He was mediocre at best. Besides, his leaving basketball to try baseball was nothing but a means to deflect the attention away from the investigation into the betting scandal which the NBA promptly dropped when he announced his retirement......

[Hot Tabasco]

With that being said, I did get a kick out of the fact that while on an extended road trip, he surprised his teammates by having the entire clubhouse remodeled and bought them a new team bus.........