No matter what's next, JJ Wetherholt's legacy at WVU won't be forgotten
It is not often a player like JJ Wetherholt comes around a program. And now as his collegiate career is likely over, his impact runs deeper than the success he had on the field for West Virginia.
JJ Wetherholt. To most around the West Virginia baseball program that name is synonymous with success.
Three seasons ago, Wetherholt was a freshman who had a good enough year to make the All-Big 12 Freshman Team and be named an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. Now, three seasons later, Wetherholt’s name will go down in history as one of the greatest Mountaineers to ever put on a West Virginia baseball uniform.
On Saturday night in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, his eyes looked heavy following WVU’s season-ending loss to No. 4 North Carolina. Wetherholt, the unquestioned leader and best player on West Virginia, likely played his last game as a Mountaineer, as he's a draft-eligible junior and a likely top pick in this summer's MLB Draft.
“It’s been awesome. It’s been the best three years of my life just super thankful for Coach for believing in me, for teammates for pushing me, and the entire coaching staff for making me the player I am today,” Wetherholt said. “Wanted to win this one so bad, and it’s just how the game goes sometimes, it’s a tough game. It’s been unbelievable and all I can say is thank you everybody who’s been along for the ride.”
Wetherholt burst onto the national scene last year when he led all Division I players in batting, as he had a .449 average and was named 2023 Big 12 Player of the Year. This year, the expectations were through the roof for the shortstop from Mars, Pennsylvania.
Many tabbed Wetherholt as possibly the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, while others picked him as a preseason finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the best player in college baseball.
All that came to a standstill for Wetherholt when he was dealt a blow to his hamstring in his fourth game of the season this year. He would return more than a month and a half later and got back to being the player many predicted him to be. He finished the regular season hitting .375 with eight home runs, and 30 RBIs.
Unfortunately for Wetherholt, the postseason was not kind to him. He struggled at the plate down the stretch but that didn’t stop him from making a countless number of plays at shortstop or being the leader of a group making their first Super Regional appearance in school history.
“I had some good plays, just trying to help the team win. I think it’s something I’ve put a lot of effort into. I’ve played three different positions since I came here, so it’s been cool for me to be able to work at every single infield position and try to master it,” Wetherholt said on Thursday prior to WVU’s Super Regional appearance.
And while Wetherholt’s days playing for West Virginia are over, what he did for the program in general is going to continue to go on for years to come.
Head coach Randy Mazey said making a Super Regional is part of the progression of the program. In the three years that Wetherholt has been a Mountaineer, they were one of the first four teams out, they were ranked in the top-ten last season before they made a regional, and this year, they made a Super Regional.
“This team as we sit here today will go down in history as the team that achieved the most in the history of the program. Over 120 years of baseball, they’ve never achieved this much,” Mazey said after the loss on Saturday.
Mazey and Wetherholt’s relationship has been compared to being like a father-son relationship by Wetherholt. Mazey said he will continue to be a fan of Wetherholt’s and knows the strides he helped make for West Virginia.
“Some guys come along in your career that can single-handedly change the face of an entire program. Alek Manoah did it in 2019 and we hosted a regional, he changed the face of the program. JJ Wetherholt has changed West Virginia baseball forever and I have him to thank for that. But JJ knows this that my relationship with him is not over, it’s just beginning,” Mazey said. “I won’t be coaching him anymore, but I’ll always be a big fan of his, not just as a player, but as a person and his family and everything he stands for and I can go down the roster of 40 people and say the same thing about every single one of them.”
So, while Wetherholt likely won’t be on the field any more for West Virginia, his impact will be felt. Whether it be all the No. 27 jerseys worn by fans, the high draft pick he’s deserving of, or the fact that West Virginia baseball is officially in the national discussion, his head coach is right, West Virginia baseball has been changed forever and JJ Wetherholt is to thank for that.
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