The last time we saw Mike Piazza, it was in a familiar place — on the baseball diamond.

The 12-time All-Star who hit the most home runs ever by a catcher served as the hitting coach for the Italian team at the World Baseball Classic in March, a scrappy overachieving squad that made it to the semifinal round at Marlins Park with less than a handful of major leaguers.

These days, the 44-year-old retired Miami Beach native and father of two is working on a different stage and on a different skill. He’s trying to perfect his gangster face for the Miami City Ballet, with which he will perform during a one-night show Friday at the Ziff Ballet Opera House/Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami.

Piazza, who hit 427 career home runs with the Mets, Marlins, Dodgers, Athletics and Padres, is playing a hit man in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. He will walk on stage and say roughly three lines in the ballet George Balanchine choreographed as part of the 1930s musical On Your Toes.

“You’ve got to sometimes have the courage to go out there and do something like this,” said Piazza, who added that he already has received a few emails and messages on Twitter from friends busting his chops.

“If I have to take a few good-natured insults — I’ve taken a lot of abuse before. No question I’ve got big shoulders. The bottom line is to draw attention to the show, to the arts, the art of ballet and dancing in general. It’s something I’m very excited about.”

Piazza, who didn’t know anything about Balanchine when he first stepped into the rehearsal studio April 16, won’t be dancing or wearing a tutu. In fact, he might never get on a ballet stage again. But after a little arm-twisting from his wife and his 6-year-old daughter, Nicoletta Veronica — who is part of the ballet’s junior program — Piazza said he quickly got on board with the idea of using his sports star status to help draw eyes to ballet at least this once.

“I advocate the definite coolness of ballet and how it’s definitely an athletic movement,” Piazza said. “I’ve been to a couple shows at the Arsht Center. It’s great. I’ve evolved in my life and my specific tastes in entertainment. When you’re a kid, you don’t think much about it, but when you get older you can’t help but admire classic ballet and the dancers and the shows. For me as an athlete, I know how much goes on behind the scenes.”

Attracting new audience members has been a priority at the Miami Beach dance company, which is embracing new collaborations after some financial restructuring and a change in its artistic director. Earlier this year, the company paired two ballerinas with Miami Heat basketball players LeBron James and Dwyane Wade for an ad campaign promoting downtown Miami’s cultural scene. It also has taken out ads in Sports Illustrated.

Philip Neal, who is staging the production and coaching Piazza in his role, said he is thrilled athletes such as Piazza are highlighting the athleticism and discipline of dance, particularly for boys. Neal played Little League baseball and danced before becoming a performer with the New York City Ballet while Piazza played for the Mets.

“I haven’t taught his daughter yet, but I certainly worked the angle of his wife and daughter to get him here,” Neal said. “We want to make ballet fans out of sports fans, and I think the athleticism that is there is a natural fit. We always want to get people through the door, because once they sit and the curtain goes up, they’re shocked at how athletic it is. They see the men lifting the ladies over their head, moving at the speed of light and jumping and turning. I think someone’s preconception of ballet might be different once the curtain goes up. So hopefully a lot of people will come see Mike and they’ll come to the ballet and be surprised at what they see.”