News Now Forever: What if Stephen Curry had been a baseball player?

He was a top-of-the-order hitter. Effective with two strikes. No power. Mostly a middle infielder and center fielder. Never a pitcher like his dad.

Back in the day, Stephen Curry played baseball.

Then he became a teenager and devoted his life to basketball.

Now Curry is the envy of athletes in all sports, evidenced every time they take to social media to pay their respects for his latest exploits, including becoming the NBA’s first unanimous MVP award winner and returning from a sprained ankle and sprained MCL to lead the Warriors back to the Western Conference finals.

But what if he had stayed on the diamond?

Looking at Curry’s skills, baseball evaluators drool. His athleticism. Quickness. Smarts. Hand-eye coordination. Desire. All off the charts. All the traits of a great baseball player.

“Off the record,” Boston scout Gary Hughes said, “the Red Sox would love to have him. … Ah, go with it.”

Giants general manager Bobby Evans didn’t even think about going off the record.

“I will take him,” Evans said.

A’s GM David Forst’s assessment:

“I’m sure it’s not surprising to you, but I think Steph would excel at anything he does, including baseball. I could imagine him covering a ton of ground in center field, with his instincts for the ball helping him get great jumps off the bat.

“There are a lot of similarities in the way a point guard anticipates where his guys and the defenders are going to be and how a defensive player in baseball anticipates where the ball is going to be off the bat. I see him being a high-contact, leadoff-type hitter with his incredible hand-eye coordination, and he’s a lot stronger than I think most people give him credit for. He’d have a chance to surprise with a few home runs out of the leadoff spot.”

Now, noboby’s advocating for Curry to leave hoops for baseball. Michael Jordan, the Curry of his generation, tried it and was a disaster. We’re simply wondering how Curry’s talents would translate from the court to the field, and those in the know say quite well.

Ainge’s point of view

Take it from Danny Ainge, one of 12 athletes to play in both the NBA and Major League Baseball.

“I think Steph has a great brain, great attitude and amazing hand-eye coordination, and I think he could easily be a baseball player — a shortstop or third baseman, or I can see him in center field,” Ainge said. “If he would’ve dedicated himself to baseball at a young age, he probably would’ve been successful.”

In October, Curry and his Warrior buddies took a break from their preseason workouts and ventured to the Coliseum to take a few rounds of batting practice. Interim coach Luke Walton figured it would be a nice diversion. Klay Thompson and Mo Speights flashed the most power.

“Not good,” Curry said, giving a scouting report on himself. “I had never swung with a wooden bat. My last one was my best, but it took me a while to get my bearing back. I had a bit more of a golf swing so I was trying to scoop everything instead of driving it.”

OK, he’d be a project. Whatever.

What would be Curry’s best baseball traits?

“Vision and coordination,” Ainge said. “His ballhandling and shooting are as good as I’ve ever seen in the NBA. I know Steph is a great golfer, and that’s an indication he’d be pretty good at whatever he took up.”

Unlike Curry, Ainge continued excelling in multiple sports at an advanced age, a high school superstar in football, basketball and baseball, and got drafted in two sports. He was on the fast track in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization while still playing basketball at BYU. He reached the big leagues at 20 and played three seasons, hitting .220 and appearing at six positions, mostly second and third.

The Boston Celtics bought out Ainge’s baseball contract, beginning his 14-year NBA career. He won two rings as a player and one as a GM. Currently, he’s Boston’s president of basketball operations.

At 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds, Ainge was extremely tall for a second baseman. Curry is 6-3 and 185. Most players in the NBA would be too tall to get around on an inside fastball, but Ainge said that wouldn’t have been a factor with Curry, who probably would be asked to put on weight and bulk up if he played baseball.

“I remember one time we were at Yankee Stadium, and I was playing second base,” Ainge said. “Reggie Jackson hit a hard line drive, and I jumped as high as I could and grabbed it. He started cussing me out: ‘You 6-6 blankety blank, get in the outfield where you belong.’”

Another believer

Former Giants outfielder Randy Winn played basketball at Santa Clara University, a teammate of Steve Nash, and is a big Curry fan. Winn pursued a baseball career after being drafted out of college by the Florida Marlins. If Curry would have been in his shoes, a two-sport athlete in college, Winn could have seen a baseball future.

“To me, he could’ve been a good player, and it wouldn’t have taken much for him to become a very good player,” Winn said. “He was overlooked a lot in basketball, and probably the same would’ve been true in baseball. He’d be a guy like Tim Lincecum, with a body type that would make some look past him.

“He has the intangibles and positives to overcome that. Being around a father who was a professional athlete, you get an extra check mark. He didn’t feel entitled just because his dad played, but he understood the hard work needed to become a professional.

“He’s not known as someone who’s really, really fast, but you don’t see anyone chasing him down and catching him. The skill set is there. You would just see he’s a ballplayer. He’d do a little bit of everything to help your team win and make his teammates better. He’d be good in the clubhouse, and guys would respect him.”

As the Marlins’ scouting director, Hughes drafted Winn and has a history of drafting multisport athletes, including John Elway when Hughes worked for the Yankees. Elway played in 42 Class A games before jumping to a Hall of Fame football career.

Hughes also drafted Delino DeShields (he turned down a basketball scholarship at Villanova to sign with the Montreal Expos), Erick Strickland (Marlins minor-leaguer who played in the NBA) and John Lynch (pitched briefly in the Marlins’ system before becoming an elite NFL defensive back).

‘Why not’

“I’m a firm believer” in pursuing multisport athletes, said Hughes, who was influenced by Jim Fregosi, a four-sport athlete and teammate at Serra High School in San Mateo. “Steph Curry? Why not? Are you going to say Steph Curry can’t do something?”

Hughes recalls a promising pitcher from Virginia who got drafted out of high school by the Texas Rangers and out of Virginia Tech by the Baltimore Orioles. But Dell Curry stuck to basketball, became a sharp-shooting guard in the NBA and raised a couple of NBA sons, Steph of the Warriors and Seth of the Kings.

Dell Curry actually pitched in one minor-league game, for the 1991 Gastonia (N.C.) Rangers, who were owned by George Shinn, the owner of Curry’s Charlotte Hornets. For a promotional stunt, Shinn had Curry and backcourt teammate Muggsy Bogues suit up as baseball players.

Of course, the Currys made wise career moves, but it’s not tough to picture Steph performing the ultimate crossover and succeeding in baseball.

“That kind of athlete would be a first-round draft pick if his tools are anything what you’d imagine them to be,” Evans said. “You’d look at him at the most athletic positions, shortstop and center field, and see what happens. You’d want him to hit 1 or 2 in the lineup.

“With his approach on the court and knowing he’s very astute and knows his opponents, it would be interesting to see that kind of focus at-bat to at-bat. My expectations would be a gap-to-gap hitter with speed. That kind of body, if he got stronger, he could easily have power.”

When Curry was relayed sentiments from adoring people in the baseball world, he took it in stride, like everything else, and smiled.

“I guess there are a lot of hypotheticals going on all over the place,” Curry said. “It’s all entertaining and fun.”

Chronicle staff writer Rusty Simmons contributed to this report.

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter @JohnSheahey

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