All In The Family

In baseball, as in most sports, it’s always been unusual to have more than one family member make it to the majors, and it’s very rare to see more than one achieve any level of success. The most well known examples are Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. (the only father/son teammates) and the Alou brothers (Felipe, Matty and Jesus, outstanding hitters who once played all three outfield positions for one inning with the San Francisco Giants in 1963, the only time three brothers have ever done it). In addition, two 3rd generation players - from the same family - have played in the bigs (Bret and Aaron Boone, son of Bob and grandsons of Ray Boone).

In the recent amateur draft there was a fascinating amount of baseball heritage chosen that could some day make the rosters look like a time machine.

[Player (relative), team, round.]

1b Ike Davis (Son of P Ron Davis) New York Mets, 18th pick, 1st round.
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OF Jordan Danks (Brother of White Sox P John Danks), White Sox, 7th round.
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P Matt Robertson (Brother of Detroit Tigers pitcher Nate Robertson), Tigers, 49th round.
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P Luke Greinke (Brother of Kansas City Royals P Zach Greinke), New York Yankees, 12th round.
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OF Cutter Dykstra (Son of OF Lenny Dykstra) Milwaukee Brewers, 2nd round.
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P Kevin Eichorn (Son of P Mark Eichorn) Arizona Diamondbacks, 3rd round.
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SS Devaris Strange-Gordon (Son of Phillies P Tom Gordon) L.A. Dodgers, 4th round.
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OF Jeremy Barfield (Brother of Josh and son of Jesse Barfield), Oakland A’s, 8th round.
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P Joe Coleman (Son of P Joe Coleman and grandson of P Joe Coleman, who pitched in nine seasons from 1944-55) Chicago Cubs, 15th round.
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SS Steve Lombardozzi (Son of IF Steve Lombardozzi) Washington Nationals, 19th round.
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P Jason Roenicke (Son of OF Gary Roenicke) Toronto Blue Jays, 19th round.
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3b Patrick Palmeiro (Son of Rafael Palmeiro) Pittsburgh Pirates, 22nd round.
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P Riley Welch (Son of P Bob Welch) Oakland A’s, 34th round.
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C Mike Brenly (Son of C Bob Brenly) Chicago Cubs, 36th round.
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P Kyle Hurst (Son of P Bruce Hurst) L.A. Angels, 36th round.
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Jesse Orosco (Son of P Jesse Orosco) Arizona, 38th round.
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OF Tyler Thompson and his twin brother Logan went in the 42nd round - Tyler to the Giants and Logan to the Indians. Their father is former IF Robby Thompson.
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Of course, it doesn’t always have to be baseball related:
With the 26th overall pick the Diamondbacks chose P Dan Schlereth, who’s father is former NFL player and current ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth.
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And in the 23rd round the White Sox took P Kyle Long, who’s dad happens to be NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long and who’s brother is Chris Long, the second pick of the NFL draft.