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Collins: Tebow won't make Mets, but presence great for fans

Steve Mitchell / USA TODAY Sports

Less than six months after agreeing to a minor-league deal with the New York Mets, Tim Tebow will receive at-bats in a major-league spring training game.

Mets skipper Terry Collins announced Monday that Tebow will serve as the club's designated hitter Wednesday against reigning American League Cy Young winner Rick Porcello and the Boston Red Sox.

"I don't think he's going to make our team, but I think it's great for our organization, it's great for our fans. He's a pretty famous guy," Collins told reporters of Tebow's presence in camp, according to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. "I am going to DH him Wednesday, so he gets in the lineup. I need players anyway and I want him to get some at-bats. So he'll DH on Wednesday."

Collins and general manager Sandy Alderson have been highly supportive of Tebow's pursuit of a professional baseball career, and with 14 players in the Mets organization leaving camp for the World Baseball Classic, the timing to bring Tebow up couldn't have been better.

Tebow participated in the Mets' instructional league last September, homering in his first at-bat. He'd later move on to play with the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League, hitting .194 with 20 strikeouts in 62 plate appearances.

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