The Titans’ top receiver recently took to social media to express an interest in playing baseball, asking the San Diego Padres for a workout.
Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Michael Jordan… A.J. Brown?
Brown thinks with an opportunity, he could be a better baseball player than Michael Jordan was.
People forget Jordan’s solid year in the minor-league ranks of the Chicago White Sox back in 1994. Though he only posted a .202 average and .556 OPS in 1994 with the AA Birmingham Barons, that’s pretty remarkable given that the Bulls’ great had no prior experience in professional baseball.
Titans receiver A.J. Brown wants to play for Padres
Why the San Diego Padres for Brown, though? Well, he was actually drafted by them as an outfielder in the 19th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. That almost came to fruition, as he signed with the Padres, making him ineligible to continue playing college baseball. However, Brown also wanted to keep playing football at Ole Miss. He was later drafted in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans, where he has emerged as one of the best players at his position.
Brown is another one of those cases like Russell Wilson (drafted by the Rockies) Kyler Murray (drafted by the A’s) and Tom Brady (drafted by the Expos), all of whom chose football careers over baseball.
There’s a reason the list of two-sport professional athletes is so short, however: it’s very difficult to pull off.
Clearly, Brown has some baseball acumen, seeing as the Padres were willing to take a flyer on him back in 2016. Could San Diego give the wideout a second chance? It couldn’t hurt, right?
Russell Wilson has attended spring training in recent years as a second baseman. Seeing Brown running around the outfield in Padres’ spring training would definitely bring some intrigue to their camp.
The chances of A.J. Brown becoming a big leaguer are slim, never mind making it to AA like Michael Jordan once did, but hey, shoot your shot, right?