If you’re a baseball fan, you know the last name Dunston as it’s the last name of 2x MLB All-Star and 18-year MLB veteran Shawon Dunston.
But it’s also the last name of his daughter Jasmine, and she’s just as impressive as her major-league father.
Jasmine, 31, played softball at HBCU university Tennessee State and was always around the game due to her father. When he was a coach with the San Francisco Giants between 2009 – 2019, Jasmine was attending law school at John F. Kennedy University in California and got to celebrate the Giants’ three World Series titles with her father.
Their love of the game elevated both of the Dunstons, Shawon in the pros and Jasmine in baseball’s executive suite, where she’s now the Director of Minor League Operations for the Chicago White Sox.
It’s news that brought tears to her father’s eyes.
“He cried like a baby, oh my goodness,” said Jasmine to the Chicago Sun-Times. “I had to repeat the title to him like five times. He was so shocked and stunned because people in baseball don’t get a director role after one year. So he was just proud.”
Jasmine Dunston’s rise up the ranks was well earned and well deserved.
She has a masters degree in sports administration from Valparaiso, interned at All Pro Sports & Entertainment in Denver, was a law clerk for the Las Vegas Raiders and was a specialist in player development with the Reds one year ago.
A resume like that comes with drive, motivation and talent, and that’s just what she has and what the White Sox saw when they first met with her.
“Jasmine is a smart girl, she grew up in baseball, played softball in college and has her law degree so she’s definitely more than capable to handle it,” said Grace Guerrero Zwit, who is leaving the position Jasmine is inheriting after 40 years with the team. “There’s a lot to learn at once. But she’ll be great.”
Zwit, Mexican-American, is a baseball trailblazer. She was the first woman to work in the White Sox baseball operations, and now she’s holding the door open for Jasmine.
“They say I blazed a trail,” said Zwit. “I hoped I would be replaced by a female minority. I’m glad that they did it. It’s a good move.”
Jasmine understands what this all means and she’s ready to embrace the challenge.
“I hope I can make her proud, just keep the train rolling how she built it and keep growing from there,” said Dunston.
Growing up in the game is something Jasmine had, in some ways, no choice in doing because her father talked to her about baseball non-stop when she was younger. He took her to games, explained the game to her and exposed her to it from both the side of a player and a coach.
Now Jasmine Dunston is paving her own path in the game she grew up around and playing, and blazing a trail for other young women of color to follow.
