MLB Players Who Could Be This Season's Tim Tebow or Jeremy Lin

I guess that’s why this is such a fun story for so many people. The element of surprise coupled with an underdog rapidly rising to prominence can’t miss in winning the attention of the casual fan, or new fans altogether.

Will Major League Baseball be as lucky? Only the likes of Gandalf knows the true answer to that, so compiled below is simply a stab at some possible Tim Tebow/Jeremy Lin candidates for the upcoming MLB season. This was done so without the assistance of operations research and financial engineering wizard, Ross Ohlendorf.

Shawn Haviland, A’s — Haviland isn’t in the majors just yet but the 26-year-old starter went to Harvard and believes “Slapshot” is the greatest sports movie of all time. That information alone makes him deserving of a call-up from Billy Beane and widespread celebration from the sports media.

Craig Breslow, Diamondbacks — He’s already played six seasons in the majors and he’s only a relief pitcher, but he majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale and the Wall Street Journal coined him as “the smartest man in baseball.” Anything can happen.

Honorable Mention — Mets reliever and Spud Webb disciple, Daniel Herrera.

The biggest tragedy here is that David Eckstein’s career didn’t take off during the Twitter era. Between being the proud owner of a race car bed and showing hustle to the point of sprinting to first base on ball four — not to mention his stubble-impervious face — there’s little doubt he would have brought new fans to the game with each passing day while simultaneously earning the adoration of moms across the nation. Simply put, Little David Eckstein’s time on baseball’s main stage came far too early.

[Photo via US Presswire]