Tim Tebow and the Colorado Rockies: Could It Happen?

The agents working for ESPN broadcaster and ex-NFL quarterback Tim Tebow are reporting that the Heisman Trophy winner wants to try his hand at professional baseball. Could it be with the Colorado Rockies?

Tebow’s team announced that he would be holding a tryout for all 30 MLB teams later this month. Well, scouts from all 30 teams are invited anyway. Tebow was a three-sport stud at Nease High School before ultimately turning to football full-time. The last time Tebow picked up a baseball competitively was his junior year when he hit .494 and helped carry Nease to the final four of the Florida state playoffs.

First, seeing that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sport, Tebow making it to the “bigs” seems unlikely. Like Willie Stargell once famously said, “They give you a round bat and they throw you a round ball and they tell you to hit it square.” Now couple that with the fact that Tebow hasn’t played in 11 years and is turning 29 this Sunday makes his MLB dream even slimmer.

But … let’s face reality. Tebow will most likely be picked up by some organization because the minor leagues are all about publicity and promotion. So, based on that reason alone, Tim Tebow is worth a flier. Tebow’s people insist this isn’t a publicity stunt and that he is very serious about a baseball career, and that may be, but that doesn’t mean organizations won’t exploit it for the publicity it will bring. So that begs the question, what team will try to capitalize?

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ESPN’s Darren Rovell contemplated this exact question. Interestingly enough, Rovell claims that the Colorado Rockies would be the second-best fit for Tebow. The argument goes something like this: Because Tim made his only NFL impact on the city of Denver, the city would welcome him back with open arms. Also because the Rockies are affiliated with the Asheville Tourists, which is the middle of SEC country, fans would embrace him. Two pretty valid arguments. FanSided’s own John Buhler makes a similar, but a more detailed argument, for Tebow playing at Coors.

One thing that Rovell missed is that the Rockies kind of love playing quarterbacks. The greatest Rockie of all-time, Todd Helton played quarterback at Tennesse (behind Peyton Manning). Rockies’ home-grown product Seth Smith played quarterback at Ole Miss (behind the other Manning).

Helton and Smith are easy comparisons but don’t forget that Colorado drafted (at the time) North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson (fourth round of 2010), Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick (30th round in 2001), and Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker (first round in 2010). Clearly, the Rockies have a deep love for guys that played quarterback in college, although only three of them ended up logging some innings in the Majors (Parker only briefly).

Next: Rockies' Top Prospects Update

All that being said, with Tebow’s NFL dream being all but dead, having him try baseball out could be a little bit of fun to watch.

Ultimately, making the bigs probably won’t happen so we can discount Rovell’s “Denver will embrace Tebow” argument seeing its unlikely he’ll ever be there, but if shows some legit baseball skill, having Tebow in the farm system wouldn’t surprise a lot of people given Colorado’s quarterback history. And if Tebow ends up playing in Asheville, all the power to them to sell some extra tickets.