Uncle Alex Rodriguez Guides Joe Dunand To Greater Heights

North Carolina State shortstop Joe Dunand (right) hung out at the 2015 ESPYs with his uncle Alex Rodriguez and NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

RALEIGH, N.C.—Every once in a while, when North Carolina State junior shortstop Joe Dunand finds himself scuffling on the field or feeling a little lost in the batter’s box, he’ll pull out his cell phone and text Alex Rodriguez.

Yes, that Alex Rodriguez. The one who played for the Yankees all those years, the one who’s been linked to singer Jennifer Lopez. A-Rod.

Look at Dunand closely enough—and listen to him talk—and you might even pick up on a slight resemblance. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound shortstop is A-Rod’s nephew—a powerful righthanded-hitting slugger like his uncle. And when Dunand texts A-Rod, A-Rod texts back.

“All the time—I’ll text him, call him if I ever need anything,” said Dunand, whose father Joe Dunand Sr. is A-Rod’s half-brother. “Even my dad, he’s like a sponge with him, too. They hang out a lot. I talk to them both, and it’s a good resource for me to have. It definitely helps that I have that, and rarely anybody has that. He’s one of the best players ever, so I’m a lucky guy.”

Rodriguez, who retired last summer with 696 career home runs and a .295/.380/.550 career slash line in 22 big league seasons, has always told Dunand to focus on his defense first and foremost.

“Defense will keep you on the field,” he’s told him. “Hitting will take care of itself.”

For the most part, Dunand has found that to be true. He started 57 games as a freshman at third base in 2015 despite hitting just .219/.289/.381. In his sophomore year, after sliding over to shortstop, his bat started to come around, producing a .297/.345/.424 line. And this year, after battling through some early season struggles, Dunand’s raw power has translated more to game power, with 16 homers and a robust .289/.366/.626 slash line at the end of the regular season.

Dunand credits a more disciplined approach as a reason for that improvement, but he admits he still needs to refine his defensive game in order to stick at shortstop—the biggest knock scouts have on him.

“I have a lot of work to do,” Dunand said. “I’m making some silly mistakes at short right now, but that’s one of my dreams—to play shortstop.”

N.C. State coach Elliott Avent, who also coached Rafael Palmeiro’s son Preston the last three seasons, said that Dunand has handled the draft limelight—and the attention that comes with his bloodlines—admirably. Avent praised his development while in Raleigh.

“I think Joe Dunand has grown so much,” Avent said. “First of all, to be 6-2 and a big-bodied shortstop, to be able to play it as nimbly as he plays it . . . He’s gotten better as a runner, he’s gotten better at everything he does. And there’s a lot of pressure that goes with being the nephew of Alex Rodriguez—and some of the things he hears on the road—and I just think everything Joe does, he’s a great teammate. They love him. He likes to be out here, he likes the ball hit to him when the game is on the line, and that’s what you want from a player. Joe Dunand has just grown in so many facets.”

His teammates, too, have benefited from sharing a locker room with him. Just this fall, A-Rod gathered the players and addressed them, giving them advice for everything from approach to specific nutrition tips.

“Right when he walked in, there was kind of this aura about him where we knew it was big-time,” righthander Johnny Piedmonte said. “It was a cool experience. It kind of added something to my college experience that I didn’t expect.”

As cool as that might be for the rest of the Wolfpack, to Joe Dunand, that’s just Uncle Alex.

IT’S ALL RELATIVE
Kyle Wright	RHP	Vanderbilt	Brother Mitchell pitched at Alabama-Huntsville where he is currently a student assistant coach
Royce Lewis	SS/OF	JSerra Catholic HS, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.	Dad William played football and baseball in college (Cerritos Jr. College/Cal State Fullerton). Mother Cindy played softball at San Jose State
Jordon Adell	OF	Ballard HS	Dad Scott played football at North Carolina State and was drafted by the Saints. sister Jessia plays softball and track at Louisville
Jeren Kendall	OF	Vanderbilt	Dad Jeremey reached Double-A in Phillies organization
Jake Burger	3B	Missouri State	Dad Mike played baseball at Evansville, mom Shannon played tennis at Evansville
Nick Allen	SS	Francis Parker School, San Diego	Dad Tom was on the U.S. water polo team, went to Fresno State
Drew Waters	OF	Etowah HS, Ga.	Dad Mitch played football at Georgia Tech/Auburn. Mom Lisa was a junior olympics gymnast
Clarke Schmidt	RHP	South Carolina	Brother Clate pitched at Clemson and with the Tigers organization
Tanner Burns	RHP	Decatur HS, Ala.	Dad Mike played baseball at North Alabama
Brady McConnell	SS	Merritt Island (Fla.) HS	Dad Steve played football at Towson
Evan White	1B	Kentucky	Dad Joe played baseball and basketball in college; grandfather and uncle (Brooks White) played in the Reds organization
Wil Crowe	RHP	South Carolina	Dad Tim played baseball at Milligan College
Luis Campusano	C	Cross Creek HS, Augusta, Ga.	Dad Genaro played in minors for Pirates and Rangers. Pedro Martinez is second cousin.
Michael Mercado	RHP	Westview HS, San Diego, Calif.	Both parents played college tennis, sister Madison is on the U17 women’s national soccer team and committed to Notre Dame
Ryan Vilade	3B	Stillwater (Okla.) HS	Dad James played baseball at Baylor. Mom Jen played volleyball at Baylor
MJ Melendez	C	Westminster Christian School, Palmetto Bay, Fla.	Dad Mervyl played baseball at Bethune-Cookman and is the head coach at Florida International. Mom Aixa played softball at Central Florida
Matt Tabor	RHP/MIF	Milton Academy, Mass.	Dad Mark played football at UMass
Tristan Beck	RHP	Stanford	Grandfather Donald Piper was awarded the Welsh Cap for rugby (All-American equivalent); brother Brendan plays at Corona (Calif.) High, Stanford signee
KJ Harrison	1B	Oregon State	Dad Kenny played baseball at Hawaii where he was a 1993 All-American. Later played in the Pirates system. Mom Kaleka played soccer at Colorado
Gavin Sheets	1B	Wake Forest	Dad Larry played for the Orioles from 1984-1990, Tigers from 1991-92, Mariners in 1993
James Marinan	RHP	Park Vista HS, Lake Worth, Fla.	Dad Dennis played college basketball
Drew Ellis	3B/1B	Louisville	Dad Derek played baseball at Indiana State
Jacob Pearson	OF	West Monroe (La.) HS	Dad William played baseball at Paris (Texas) JC
Bryce Bonnin	RHP	Barbers Hill HS, Mont Belvieu, Texas	Dad Shane played football at Lamar
Riley Adams	C	San Diego	Dad Matt played basketball at UC San Diego
Kevin Smith	SS	Maryland	Dad Daniel played basketball at Castleton State
Joe Perez	RHP	Archbishop McCarthy HS, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.	Dad Mike played semi-pro soccer in Spain
Daniel Tillo	LHP	Iowa Western CC	Brother Nick played baseball at Southwest Minnesota State
Kevin Merrell	INF/OF	South Florida	Brother Tripp played baseball at Webber International for four years. Dad Bud played baseball for Florida Southern
Blaine Knight	RHP	Arkansas	Dad Blake played baseball at Southern Arkansas. Great grandfather Lloyd played professional baseball for the Pensacola Flyers
Adam Hall	SS	A.B. Lucas Secondary School, London, Ont.	Dad Tyler ran college track at Western Ontario. Mom Helen was a college swimmer at Western Ohio
Ernie Clement	SS/OF	Virginia	Dad Peter played rugby at St. Lawrence; Mom Julie played soccer at Babson College
Kyle Hurt	RHP	Torrey Pines HS, San Diego	Dad Kevin played college football at Mississippi
Seth Corry	LHP	Lone Peak HS, land, Utah	Dad Delynn played in minors with Cardinals and Phillies
Zac Lowther	LHP	Xavier	Dad Marc played baseball at Urbana and coached Zac at Cuyahoga Heights
Steven Williams	C/OF	Deerfield-Winsor, Ga.	Dad Steve played college football at Georgia Southwestern State
Morgan Cooper	RHP	Texas	Brother Kreece playd baseball at Mary Hardin-Baylor
Dylan Busby	INF	Florida State	Brother Dalton played baseball at Georgia Southern. Dad Wayne was drafted by the White Sox in 1988
Joe Dunand	INF	North Carolina State	Nephew of Alex Rodriguez
Jacob Gonzalez	3B/1B	Chaparral, Ariz.	Dad Luis had a 19-year MLB career and was a five-time all-star
Daulton Varsho	C	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Dad Gary played eight big league seasons and has spent many years as a scout. Sister Taylor played basketball at Colorado State and Sioux Falls. Sister Andie played softball at Purdue
Logan Allen	LHP/1B/OF	University, Fla.	Dad Doug played baseball at Hillsdale College
Charlie Barnes	LHP	Clemson	Brother James was a redshirt freshman QB for Clemson in 2016
Nick Raquet	LHP	William & Mary	Brother Brandon is a freshman on William & Mary’s baseball team
AJ Labas	RHP/1B	Trinity Christian Academy, Fla.	Dad John played college baseball at Harding
Justin Lewis	RHP	Kentucky	Cousins are Kentucky/NBA star Chuck Hayes and Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman
Garett King	RHP	California Baptist	Brother Grant plays baseball at Pepperdine
Riley Thompson	RHP	Louisville	Grandfather played basketball at Union College
Peter Solomon	RHP	Notre Dame	Brother Thomas pitched at Johns Hopkins
Tommy Doyle	RHP	Virginia	Mom Laura played field hockey and lacrosse at Lafayette. Brother Matt played baseball at Harvard. Sisters Claire and Katherine play lacrosse at Bucknell
Caleb Sloan	RHP	Regis Jesuit HS, Aurora, Colo.	Dad Lance played football at Tulsa.
Jack Leftwich	RHP	TNXL	Dad Larry played football at Coe College
Will Toffey	3B	Vanderbilt	Brother John played pro hockey and is now the baseball coach at Salisbury. Sister Claire played college tennis.
Buddy Kennedy	3B/RHP	Millville, NJ	Dad Clifton played soccer for the US National Team. Grandfather Don Money played in the majors for 16 years with Phillies and Brewers
Kyle Datres	3B	North Carolina	Mom Cindy was the first woman to play three sports at Williamsport High. Sister Kelli was a three-time gymnastics state champion.
Evan Steele	LHP	Chipola (Fla.) JC	Dad Greg played football and wrestled at North Carolina State
Je’Von Carrier-Ward	OF/RHP	Gahr HS, Cerritos Calif.	Dad Reggie played football at Notre Dame. Uncle Mark Carrier was first-round NFL draft pick out of Southern California and a three-time Pro Bowl safety for the Chicago Bears.
Heliot Ramos	OF	Leadership Christian Academy, Guaynabo, P.R.	Brother Hector plays soccer for the Puerto Rican national team. Brother Henry has spent seven years in minors
Mac Sceroler	RHP	Southeastern Louisiana	Uncles are former LSU stars Ben McDonald, the No. 1 overall pick in 1989, and Brett Laxton, 1993 Freshman of the Year who threw 16-strikeout shutout in 1993 College World Series championship game. Both pitched in the major leagues.