Tim Tebow Comforts Fan Having Seizure

GLENDALE, Ariz.—On the field on Tuesday, Tim Tebow’s afternoon was unremarkable. In his first game in the Arizona Fall League, the newest member of the Mets organization went 0-for-3 with three groundouts and made a routine catch in left field.

Afterward, however, things got interesting. Once he had concluded with his postgame media scrum, Tebow began signing autographs for fans down the left-field line. When one of those fans began having a seizure, Tebow did what he could to help.

He stayed with the fan and prayed until paramedics arrived on the scene to take the man to a local hospital. The fan, identified by The Associated Press as 30-year-old Brandon Berry, has since been released from the hospital and sent home.

“I just remember just being very disoriented,” Berry told the AP. “Then I saw Tim.”

Tebow, the AP reported, placed his hand on Berry’s leg while he prayed and didn’t return to the clubhouse until after Berry had received medical attention.

It was only the first day of Tebow’s six weeks in the AFL, but it was certainly one to remember.

AFL NOTES

• The first night game of the AFL’s 25th season, between Peoria and Salt River, ended in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings, which also featured a 23-minute delay after the lights went in the top of the 10th. Salt River’s Kevin Cron (Diamondbacks) tied the game with a massive home run off of Peoria reliever Emilio Pagan (Mariners), which TrackMan measured at 440 feet. It left the bat at 109 mph.

• Lefthander Tanner Scott (Orioles), started for Peoria and showed off the same power arsenal that continues to make him one of Baltimore’s most intriguing prospects. In the first of his two innings, his fastball sat between 97-99 mph, and he never dipped below 96 mph. He also threw a changeup in the low-90s and a slider in the same velocity range. The latter pitch showed sharp two-plane break and induced weak swings. And while he’ll never be mistaken for a control artist, he threw 29 of his 42 pitches for strikes (69 percent). He struggled with control all year at Double-A Bowie, where he walked more than eight batters per nine innings.

• Tigers prospect JaCoby Jones, back in the AFL for the second season in a row, went 2-for-3. He turned around a 97 mph fastball from Scott for a sharp single up the middle. A shortstop at this time last year, Jones was in center field on Tuesday and made an excellent play on a ball over his head and also notched an outfield assist when his throw cut down Kean Wong at second base.

• Mariners lefthander Luiz Gohara, who signed out of Brazil in 2012 for $800,000, sat between 96-97 mph during his 1 2/3 innings of relief. He also showed a wipeout curveball in the mid-80s that he used to record five strikeouts.

• Peoria’s Travis Demeritte, a Futures Game alumnus who was dealt from the Rangers to the Braves this past summer, showed athleticism and aptitude at second base. He made a very nice play early on when he ranged far to his left to scoop a grounder and shovel to first in time, and later showed quick hands on a snap tag at second base that caught Noel Cuevas trying to steal.

• Reds righthander Barrett Astin, a third-round choice of the Brewers in 2013 out of Arkansas, used a heavy four-seam fastball between 92-95 mph as well as a cutter in the high-80s to induce grounders for five of the six outs he recorded. Astin, 24, recorded a better than 2-to-1 groundout-to-airout ratio this year at Double-A Pensacola.

• Tigers righthander Adam Ravenelle, who hit triple-digits with his fastball, sat between 96-97 mph in a scoreless inning of relief.