Sheffield believes Tebow can play in bigs: He's a 'natural'

Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow announced his interest Tuesday in becoming a major-league baseball player and he's already getting support from a former player who was once one of the game's most notorious hitters.

Gary Sheffield, who retired after the 2009 season with a lifetime .292/.393/.514 hitting line to go along with 509 home runs, and 1,676 RBIs, had nothing but good things to say about Tebow after watching him take some hacks in the batting cage, calling him a "natural."

Sheffield also appeared on MLB Network Radio to discuss Tebow, where he continued to praise the former football player.

"I swear to you guys today. After I saw the first swing, I said I can work with that," Sheffield said. "We proceeded to work for two-and-a-half hours and when I saw the bat speed he had I was shocked."

Tebow, having last played baseball more than a decade ago in high school, already received a contract offer from an independent club.