WVU’s JJ Wetherholt Earns Another Preseason Honor

The run up to one of the most highly anticipated seasons in the history of WVU Baseball continued on Monday, January 29, when junior infielder JJ Wetherholt received Preseason First Team All-American honors from D1 Baseball, one of the six major outlets covering the sport at the collegiate level.

Wetherholt burst onto the scene last season, leading the nation with a .449 batting average and adding 16 home runs, 24 doubles, 67 runs, 60 RBI and 36 stolen bases as he led the Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular season championship.

More preseason honors rolling in for JJ!

📰https://t.co/dcQdzjWjs5#HailWV pic.twitter.com/8842X66JJy

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) January 29, 2024

The recognition doesn’t come as a surprise, as Wetherholt received consensus First-Team All-American honors for those efforts, a campaign in which he also earned a Golden Spikes nomination as the best player in the country and the Big 12 named him their Player of the Year.

It’ll be interesting to see how he can build on last season with the added notoriety of an offseason worth of awards, including buzz for the first overall pick in July’s MLB Entry Draft—which would make him the highest draft pick in program history by a significant margin. As of right now, right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah holds that distinction, as the Toronto Blue Jays selected him eleventh overall in 2019.

Wetherholt stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 190 pounds, a left-handed bat who looks to drive the ball the opposite way when he isn’t pulling it through the infield. He also possesses a strong glove, posting a .973 fielding percentage at second base in 2023.

Expect the preseason honors to continue to pour in for JJ Wetherholt until February 16, when the Mountaineers’ play their regular season opener at Stetson.