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Over the course of his 11-year MLB career, Jackie Bradley Jr. made a living with his Gold Glove defense in the outfield.
But now in his post-MLB career, he's making a living by doing backflips and TikToks in Banana Ball for the Savannah Bananas' expansion team, the Indianapolis Clowns.
So what's been the adjustment to the Banana Ball style game?
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"The entertainment side of things," the former Boston Red Sox outfielder said on "SportsCenter" on Wednesday. "And I'd say that obviously we entertain in Major League Baseball, but actually having to do choreographed dances and interacting with the fans face to face is something that I wasn't used to."
The choreographed dances — which often go viral — are part of the charm of Banana Ball, which is a non-traditional style of baseball that has been around since 2020 and was created by Jesse Cole and his wife, Emily. In fact, the Bananas themselves started as a college summer baseball league team before they blew up.
The Clowns, an homage to the former Negro League team, joined the Banana Ball this past season. They selected Bradley with their first pick in the Banana Ball player draft, making him the first former MLB player to commit to participating full-time in Banana Ball.
Bradley Jr. ranks second amongst all hitters on the Banana Ball World Tour with a .400 batting average to go along with 55 hits and 27 RBIs in 38 games played for the Clowns. Back on April 10 against the Loco Beach Coconuts, the former big leaguer became the third player in Banana Ball history to hit for the cycle.
"Right now I'm just trying not to be the worst dancer," Bradley Jr. continued. "So as long as I'm not the worst dancer, I feel like I'm winning. I'm trying to put some smiles on some people's faces and make their experiences great for their Banana Ball games."
As for how difficult it is to do a backflip at 36 years old while making a play in the outfield? Exactly how you think it'd be.
"It is difficult," Bradley Jr. said straightforwardly. "I've always known how to backflip, but I'd never really had to backflip while catching a ball.
"I can just do the back flip, but once you start focusing on the ball, that's when sometimes you forget about the back flip, and you start bailing halfway. It's something I'm working on, but I've been kind of holding off on it for now, but now it's warming up. The summer's getting ready, so who knows what might happen?"
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jackie Bradley Jr. aiming to avoid ‘worst dancer’ title in Banana Ball
