Jon Santucci: Tebow's debut lived up to expectations | Video

PORT ST. LUCIE — Tim Tebow struggled Wednesday.

That’s not an in-depth analysis, it’s just a fact.

The former quarterback who is trying his hand at professional baseball with the New York Mets went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, grounded into a double play and was hit by a pitch in his Grapefruit League debut against the Boston Red Sox at First Data Field.

Even his turn on the base paths was short lived as he was doubled off first after a line drive off the bat of LJ Mazzilli.

In case you weren’t doing the math, Tebow accounted for five outs in three official at-bats.

Those are the indisputable facts.

MORE: Jon Santucci: Tim Tebow is not a baseball player

But seriously, what were you expecting to happen? Another story book home run like the one he hit in his first at-bat of the Florida Instructional League?

Tebow was playing in his first game in more than four months and was making an enormous jump in difficulty, considering his first at-bat was against Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello. That was a quick four-pitch at bat that ended with Tebow watching strike three low and away.

He was caught looking twice and only swung — and missed — at one pitch during those two at-bats.

“I probably saw the ball better than it looked,” Tebow said. “I was trying to be very disciplined up there — it didn’t necessarily work out in my favor. But I take it as a learning opportunity and get better from it."

That’s all anyone can hope for at this point.

"First game of the spring, you can’t expect a lot," said Mets manager Terry Collins, whose team won 8-7 and is 8-5 this spring, "But I was glad to get him in there. I told him to try to have some fun and hopefully he did.

"Anytime you play in a big league game … you find out the speed of the game is fast. There’s a lot of action that happens in a hurry and anytime Tim can be exposed to this, it’s going to help him."

Tebow is a 29-year-old who only recently dedicated himself to the sport. He last played a meaningful game as a high school junior. Regardless of anyone’s personal opinions on Tebow as a person or his latest foray into baseball, expecting him to do anything other than struggle at this point in the spring is expecting a lot.

"There’s a lot of things I'm trying to play catch-up on," Tebow said. "It’s just how quick can I catch up? And how much ground can you make up? The more time you can spend with K-Long (hitting coach Kevin Long) and Goody (first base coach Tom Goodwin) and work on the side, the faster it will come.

"But it's still a process."

Mets fans cheered Tebow when he grounded into the double play. That might be the first time in team history that’s happened.

Know why?

The level of expectation for Tebow is so low that him putting the ball in play seemed like a major accomplishment. That's right where the expectations should be.

Tebow said again that his ultimate goal isn't necessarily to play in the major leagues but rather to enjoy playing baseball and get as good as he can — in the time he has.

You can be upset about the opportunity Tebow is getting and complain that he's taking a spot away from somebody else. It's a reasonable argument. (But in that scenario, your frustration should solely be with the team that signed him, not the player.)

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At the same time, Tebow did slam a ball off the scoreboard in left field during batting practice Wednesday morning. After watching only a few swings, Red Sox manager John Farrell commented on Tebow's raw power.

Tebow has some talent, but it's certainly not major league talent.

Maybe it never will be.

But don't look at Wednesday's results and make a determination on Tebow's future because it was unrealistic to expect him to succeed. Not this soon in the process.

"As an athlete, you can’t let one day define anything," said Tebow, whose bases-loaded double play grounder in the fourth inning did plate a run but he isn't credited with an RBI. "It’s a process and there's always things that you're working for. I know a lot of other people will sensationalize it. Regardless of what happens, it will be the best day of all time or the worst day of all time, but for me it's just a day. It's just the next day. It’s just the next opportunity to get four at-bats, learn from it, go recover, get some sleep and wake up and get ready to do it again because there’s a lot more days like this."

Jon Santucci is a multi-media sports journalist with TCPalm.com/Treasure Coast Newspapers.