Much of last weekend's The Last Dance installment included footage and time dedicated towards Chicago Bulls Hall of Fame shooting guard Michael Jordan's (brief) tenure in Double-A with the Chicago White Sox affiliate Birmingham Barons.
Jordan's time on the diamond was scrutinized in the contemporary press at the time, as reporters mocked the then-three-time NBA champion's hitting stroke and defensive gaffes in the outfield.
Despite Jordan's splits — he batted .202 with a .289 on-base percentage and .266 slugging percentage in 497 plate appearances — the ex-Baron's hitting coach at the time, Mike Barnett, spent time this week profusely complimenting the then-31-year-old's talents, had “Hall of Fame potential” in baseball just like basketball.
Per Mason & Ireland on 710AM ESPN, via ESPN Los Angeles:
“By the time we got to the end of the year, he was close to a '50' [grade] arm, which would have been a solid, average arm.
“He took such pride in defense — obviously being the Defensive Player of the Year in basketball — he was going to make sure he was going to be the best defensive player [in baseball] he could be.
“So, I could have seen him being a solid fourth outfielder for a club, because he could absolutely run, could steal a base — he used that understanding pitchers' tendencies same as he did understanding players' tendencies, you know, the as far as playing defensive basketball, to learn how to steal bases better …
“But I've said, if he had come out of high school and went the baseball route … I could have seen him ending up being like a player like Dave Winfield.”
Michael Jordan's hitting coach reveals MJ also had hall-of-fame potential on the field. #TheLastDance
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Winfield, a longtime right fielder and 12-time All-Star predominantly with the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees, was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in baseball's hallowed grounds in Cooperstown, New York.
The operating part in Barnett's assessment of Minor Leaguer Jordan is if the North Carolina native went into professional baseball instead of UNC basketball after high school. Jordan was 31 when he started his Minor League career, roughly a decade and a half after other players started their baseball journeys.
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