Jose Reyes and 20 Baseball Players with Basketball Swagger

Let's be honest, basketball players are the coolest athletes on the planet.  Their athleticism usually lends itself to other sports better than other athletic professionals.

Their personalities are front and center more so than any other sport and they have the most flavor.  Who is the cooler athlete: Michael Jordan or Peyton Manning?  Of course, Mike Vick is an exception, but to more specifically convey my point in this piece...

Who is more exciting to watch: Kobe Bryant or Albert Pujols?  While I love Albert and he'll get his due before I'm done, from a sheer excitement and charisma standpoint, "The Mamba" fades the "The Machine."

The diamond is not totally void of players with an increased swagger rating.  Here is a list of some baseball players whose style of play and swagger resembles that of a hoops star.

Mark Hendrickson

Hey, he played in the NBA—that has to count for something, right? He is still 6'9" so he's on the list kind of by default.

Alfonso Soriano

Confident? Absolutely, even when he's hitting .230. He's flipping bats, watching home runs and leaping in the outfield. "The Fonz" has plenty of swagger, but the game has fallen off a bit.

Juan Pierre

Something about him says scrappy little point guard. He is like Muggsy Bogues; he's the fastest thing on the field but there is a hole in his game.

Still, he plays everyday and you can just about pencil in 185 hits a season. Your swagger level increases when Jay-Z references you in a song, too: "I used to run base like Juan Pierre."

Nyjer Morgan

He could be on a list of players I bet most people didn't know was an ice hockey player. He was not just a casual participant, he developed and progressed well before focusing entirely on baseball.

Morgan is one of baseball's bad boys. If he were a basketball player in the 1980s and 1990s, he would have been a Detroit Piston. He can fly and has a swagger-filled flash to his game.

Brandon Phillips

Phillips is a hell of an athlete, and he knows it (and plays like he knows it).  He signed a letter of intent to play football and baseball at the University of Georgia.

He has a super-cool, polarizing reaction to big plays. A slick fielder, his style makes the game look cool.

Torii Hunter

In his prime, his leaping ability was on par with an athlete whose living is made on the hardwood and not the diamond.

On top of that, he's tough as nails. His playful exchange in the All-Star Game with Barry Bonds after robbing him of a home run was an NBA All-Star Weekend-like moment.

Andrew McCutchen

He could easily be on a list entitled Baseball Players With Football Swagger, but that is too easy. He played football and ran track in high school. Andrew is cool, not just because of the speed and range.

His break out of his lead off when stealing second is like a swing man playing the passing lanes. He also rocks the coolest dreads in the majors.

Grady Sizemore

Grady, when healthy, can do it all. His career could be like a poor man's Ken Griffey Jr., if he could stay off the disabled list. He hasn't been healthy since 2008 and is struggling this year.

On the field, he is an acrobatic defender and exciting baserunner who hits for some power. He actually played basketball in high school, along with baseball and football. He's like Rex Chapman—you look at him and think damn, is he really that athletic?

Troy Tulowitzki

Tulo' may be the best shortstop in the game right now and this young fella' leads and performs in an exciting way.

He is another one of those players who just make the game look cool.

Curtis Granderson

With the high stir-ups, good speed, power and occasional flashy defensive play, Granderson has basketball swag.

Grandy can shoot the rock a bit too, check out the video of him draining three-point shots.

Hanley Ramirez

This kid has all the flash in the world. He got a chain custom-made with his batting average on it. Thankfully, he's got some game to back it up too.

He has every tool you'd want and expect from a shortstop, and a couple you'd love to have. His swagger level is off the chart. He loves 50 Cent and likes to DJ.

Michael Bourn

Thanks to the Bourne movie trilogy, his name is set up to carry some of the coolest nicknames in sports.

I'll spare you some of my ideas, but his exciting style of play, coupled with the name, provides the appeal necessary to make my list.

He was Bourn to be included...sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Hunter Pence

Now, while Pence is as country as country can get, he has a funky-cool style on the baseball field. He stands 6'4", also donning the high socks, and is a multi-tooled player.

I had a begrudging admiration for his game as he murdered my Chicago Cubs on a Sunday afternoon game last year.

Matt Kemp

If dating Rihanna isn't enough, he is the center fielder for the L.A. Dodgers. Kemp was a good basketball player in high school, as he played on a state championship team in his native Oklahoma.

Matt carries that style over to the diamond.

Jimmy Rollins

When I first thought about this list, "J-Roll" is one of the players who came to my mind. Patterning his game after Mr. Baseball-swagger Rickey Henderson, Rollins plays a slick style in the field.

Rollins is the picture of basketball-style swagger. He has recorded his own hip hop record entitled "Wish List," and appeared in MC Hammer videos in the late '80s. Rollins was one of the first baseball players I ever saw rock cornrows.

Jose Reyes

Reyes' style is similar to Rollins. The coolest play to watch in a baseball game is a speed guy flying around the bases for a triple. Reyes has led the league in triples three times.

His pending free agency is creating a miniature version of the Carmelo Anthony situation in the baseball world.

Asdrubal Cabrera

The behind-the-back flip is one of the first half's best defensive plays.  It almost gets him on the list by itself, but the style points don't end there.

He has a healthy amount of instinctual cool moments in the field. Cabrera has that defensive flair you can't teach, and yes...swag.

Andruw Jones

Nobody made center field look so easy and so cool all at once...well, maybe Jim Edmonds, but he's not on a roster.

Jones won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1998-2007 and he did it with style.

Ichiro Suzuki

Before you say, "Ichiro?" let me explain myself.  He is like the quirky NBA player from a foreign country who is incredibly gifted and confident.

Moreover, American fans can only wonder what they would've seen of him had he come to the states before he was 27 years old, much like Arvydas Sabonis.

All this with a rifle arm, stealing almost 40 bases per year and the bat point in the batter's box.

Albert Pujols

The game's best hitter carries himself like the best player on an NBA team. He is the closest thing to automatic in clutch situations as the baseball gods will allow.

When he nails one and he knows he nailed it, his strut out of the batter's box is better than watching the flight of the ball.

Sam Fuld

This little guy is a dynamic fielder. He is like J.J. Barea in spikes. You watch him and ask how is he in the league, but he can go and get it with the best of them.

His leaping catch has been immortalized on youtube and backed with the Superman theme music.

He hasn't shown he can do much more beyond field, but man does it ever look cool.