MIAMI — Nobody has seen Tim Tebow and Roy Hobbs in the same room together, so there is always the possibility they are one in the same.
Tebow’s imitation of “The Natural” came Wednesday in Port St. Lucie, where he blasted an opposite-field home run on the first pitch he saw in a Mets instructional league game. Tebow, 29, was playing in his first competitive game since his junior year of high school — in 2005.
“It’s fun to be back out there playing a game, playing a game I love and haven’t played in awhile, and getting to go compete at it too,” Tebow told reporters at the Mets’ minor league complex. “It’s really fun.”
Tebow finished 1-for-6 as the left fielder for five innings against a team of Cardinals prospects. The 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback signed a minor league deal with the Mets earlier this month after holding a showcase attended by scouts for 28 teams.
Mets manager Terry Collins is busy enough with the major league team, but was well aware Tebow had homered on the first pitch of his initial game in the instructional league.
“The story continues,” Collins said before the Mets faced the Marlins. “We all sit there and the majority of people think he’s too old and can’t do it, he hasn’t got enough time. This guy might. He’s such a winner. He’s such an overachiever, he just may do something that people said can’t be done.”
Tebow’s arrangement with the Mets allows him to leave on the weekends to fulfill his analyst duties with the SEC Network. He is expected to play at least four more games in the instructional league.
“I liked a lot of my at-bats today,” Tebow said. “I felt like I hit the ball really hard four of the six times. Two of the times, one to short where we were doubled up, and then one I got jammed on, those were the two I’ve got to get the bat around a little faster.”
The homer came off John Kilichowski, a 22-year-old out of Vanderbilt who had a 3.38 ERA in 11 games, including nine starts, in rookie ball and low-A after being taken in the 11th round of June’s draft. He seemed to take the homer in stride.
“I thought you agreed you were taking first pitch @TimTebow,” he posted on his Twitter account.
That Tebow jumped on the first pitch, though, may have been part of his plan.
“It was fun. I just wanted to have the approach that I was going to be aggressive,” Tebow said. “That’s something that we’ve been talking about here every day and practicing it.”
