With the new Baywatch movie in theaters, you might be wondering if star Alexandra Daddario is dating anyone. She was most recently linked to Ben Verlander, the bother of veteran Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander and a baseball player himself.
The 31-year-old Daddario began as a child actress, appearing in All My Children at 16 and won a role in 2010’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. After roles in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hall Pass, White Collar and the second Percy Jackson movie, her career really picked up after she appeared in the first season of HBO’s True Detective in 2015. Baywatch is her second movie with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, having starred as his daughter in San Andreas.
Before being linked to Verlander, she was in a relationship with Logan Lerman. Baywatch co-star Zac Efron has had to deny being in a relationship with her in the past.
Here’s what you need to know about Verlander.
1. Verlander Also Plays Baseball in the Tigers Organization
The 25-year-old Verlander not only followed his brother into baseball, but he followed him to the Tigers organization. They first drafted him in 2010 out of high school, but he decided to attend Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. In 2013, the organization drafted him in the 14th round of the MLB June Amateur draft, notes Baseball-Reference.
Unlike Justin though, Verlander is a rightfielder and designated hitter. He made his minor league debut in 2013 for the A- Connecticut Tigers. He split 2014 with Connecticut and the A West Michigan Whitecaps. Since 2015, he’s been playing for the A+ Lakeland Flying Tigers.
In five seasons in the minors, Verlander has notched 333 hits, 18 home runs and has a .225 batting average.
You can follow Verlander on Instagram and Twitter.
2. There’s An Instagram Page Dedicated to Tracking Evidence of Verlander & Daddario’s Relationship
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSMKOurAEP9/?taken-by=alexdandbenv
The rumor that Daddario is now dating Verlander began back in April 2016 on the sports blog Terez Owens. The two have never publicly acknowledged their relationship, but that hasn’t stopped one intrepid Instagram user from tracking their outings together.
The Instagram page @alexdandbenv lists evidence of the two together at sporting events or hanging out with friends. The most recent post on the page was from two months ago, showing a photo of Daddario with a friend named Penelope. Daddario is seen holding up a phone with the image of a man, who could possibly be Verlander. In the comments section, Verlander wrote “Who’s the hot guy?”
Another photo on the page shows them at a Los Angeles Clippers game together in February 2017.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQlpOCGATPm/?taken-by=alexdandbenv
3. Ben Is Nine Years Younger Than Justin & Hope to Play Together on the Same MLB Team
Since Justin and Verlander have a nine-year age gap, and Justin is busy pitching for the big league team, they don’t have many opportunities to play together. As Verlander told the Detroit News in 2014, they have dreamed of playing together on the same team, but that could be difficult. Verlander hasn’t been tearing up the minor leagues in his five-year pro career and 35-year-old Justin is now in his 13th season with the Tigers.
“My ultimate goal is to be a great Major League Baseball player, that’s been my dream,” Verlander told the Detroit News. “And when Justin got drafted and become a great Major League Baseball player, my goal didn’t change.”
Verlander even dreamed of becoming a pitcher like his Cy Young Award-winning brother, but that didn’t pan out. He was throwing in the high 80s when his coach at Old Dominion told him that he had to decide between becoming a pitcher and a hitter. If he wanted to get to the majors, it would be easier to switch to hitting full-time, his coach told him.
“When I switched to hitting, it was just a huge relief off my shoulders,” Ben said. “I’m not Justin Verlander’s brother anymore, I’m Ben Verlander. That was the biggest thing that helped me progress in my career, was kind of going my separate way.”
4. Daddario Is Friends With Verlander’s Future Sister-In-Law, Kate Upton
Alexandra Daddario. (Getty)
Verlander’s brother is engaged to model/actress Kate Upton, who is also friends with Daddario. The two actresses made a movie together called The Layover, which was filmed back in 2015. The movie will finally come out on DirecTV Cinema on August 3, then Vertical Entertainment will give it a limited theatrical release on September 1.
The movie stars Daddario and Upton as friends who hope to go on a tropical vacation, but get stuck in St. Louis. The two fight for the love of the same guy they met on their plane. The rest of the cast includes Matt Barr, Kal Penn, Molly Shannon, Rob Corddry and William H. Macy.
“She is so much fun,” Daddario said of Upton in a 2015 interview with E! News. “She’s so smart and she’s o amazing. And we’re having the best time and I hope that comes out on screen.”
5. Efron Has Insisted That He’s Not Dating Daddario
Alexandra Daddario. (Getty)
One key piece of evidence that supports Daddario still dating Verlander is that Efron has denied rumors that he’s dating her. The rumors heated up when Efron shared how excited he was to sit next to her at the MTV Movie Awards. (Of course they would sit together though. They are co-stars and have a movie to promote.)
Efron also denied dating rumors himself in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in Australia. “As far as I know, she hasn’t said yes,” Efron said. In the same interview, Daddario added that the rumor “makes sense because we are love interests in the movie – But [he] is a lot for me to handle.”
Plus on May 24, Verlander gave her new movie a shout-out on Twitter. “A rainout tonight turned into a team outing to watch the @baywatchmovie! And it was absolutely hilarious,” he wrote.
A rainout tonight turned into a team outing to watch the @baywatchmovie! And it was absolutely hilarious!
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Ben Verlander, Alexandra Daddario’s Boyfriend: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know