Wetherholt named Big 12 Player of the Year, others honored
West Virginia second baseman JJ Wetherholt was named Big 12 Player of the Year and Texas lefthander Lucas Gordon was named Pitcher of the Year as the Conference unveiled its 2023 All-Big 12 Baseball Awards. The honorees were selected in a vote of the league’s head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
WVU’s Randy Mazey was picked as Coach of the Year after leading the Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular season title.
Oklahoma State’s Nolan Schubart and Kansas’ Kodey Shojinaga were named Co-Freshmen of the Year and OSU’s Tyler Wulfert was picked as Newcomer of the Year. Texas Tech’s Gavin Kash and Texas’ Porter Brown joined Wetherholt and Gordon as unanimous selections to the All-Big 12 First Team.
Texas led all schools with five first-team honorees.
Wetherholt ranks second in Division I with a .447 batting average and is on track to have the highest batting average for a Big 12 hitter since 1999. More than just a singles hitter, the sophomore from Mars, Pennsylvania has added 15 home runs, 21 doubles and has driven in 56 runs on the campaign. He is the first West Virginia player to win the award.
Gordon leads Big 12 starting pitchers with a 2.48 earned run average while posting a 6-1 record on the season. The Los Angeles native has struck out 85 batters and held his opponents to a .210 batting average. He is the eighth Longhorn hurler to win the award, and the second in the past three seasons.
Schubart hit .348 to rank second among all players in the Big 12 with 20 doubles, 15 home runs and 66 RBIs. He also ranks among the Big 12’s leaders in RBIs (second), doubles (third), home runs (fifth) and slugging percentage (.695, fourth). The outfielder from Durand, Michigan is the first Oklahoma State hitter to be honored as the league’s top freshman since Corey Brown was named Freshman Player of the Year in 2005.
Shojinaga is the first Kansas player to win Freshman of the Year, earning his nod due to a .380 batting average with 17 extra-base hits and 40 runs scored. He was the Big 12’s leading hitter in Conference games, hitting .418 and scoring 20 runs in 24 Big 12 games.
Wulfert leads the Cowboys with a .355 batting average and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with a .695 slugging percentage. The third baseman, who transferred from Midland Junior College, has added nine home runs, 15 doubles and three triples. He is the fifth OSU player to be voted as Newcomer of the Year and the first since Christian Encarnacion-Strand in 2021.
Mazey was named Coach of the Year for the second time in four complete seasons, having captured the award in 2019. Mazey led the No. 21 Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular season title with a 15-9 record. TCU led all schools with four selections to the All-Freshman team, including unanimous selections Karson Bowen and Anthony Silva. Baylor’s Kolby Branch, Kansas’ Shojinaga, Oklahoma State’s Carson Benge and Schubart, Texas’ Jared Thomas and Texas Tech’s Kevin Bazzell were also unanimous selections.
2023 Big 12 Baseball Awards
Player of the Year: JJ Wetherholt, West Virginia
Pitcher of the Year: Lucas Gordon, Texas
Co-Freshmen of the Year: Nolan Schubart, Oklahoma State & Kodey Shojinaga, Kansas
Newcomer of the Year: Tyler Wulfert, Oklahoma State
Coach of the Year: Randy Mazey, West Virginia
All-Big 12 First Team
C: Garret Guillemette, Texas
IF: Roc Riggio, Oklahoma State
IF: Brayden Taylor, TCU
IF: Gavin Kash, Texas Tech*
IF: Kevin Bazzell, Texas Tech
IF: JJ Wetherholt, West Virginia*
OF: Nolan Schubart, Oklahoma State
OF: Porter Brown, Texas*
OF: Dylan Campbell, Texas
DH: Janson Reeder, Kansas
UT: Carson Benge, Oklahoma State
SP: Braden Carmichael, Oklahoma
SP: Lucas Gordon, Texas*
SP: Lebarron Johnson Jr., Texas
SP: Ben Hampton, West Virginia
RP: Tyson Neighbors, Kansas State
RP: Carlson Reed, West Virginia *- unanimous selection
All-Big 12 Second Team
C: Chase Adkison, Oklahoma State
IF: Cole Elvis, Kansas
IF: Kodey Shojinaga, Kansas
IF: Tyler Wulfert, Oklahoma State
IF: Anthony Silva, TCU
IF: Peyton Powell, Texas
OF: Chase Jans, Kansas
OF: Carson Benge, Oklahoma State
OF: Nolen Hester, Texas Tech
OF: Landon Wallace, West Virginia
OF: Braden Barry, West Virginia
DH: Colin Bruegemann, Oklahoma State
UT: Nolan McLean, Oklahoma State
SP: Collin Baumgartner, Kansas
SP: Owen Boerema, Kansas State
SP: Mason Molina, Texas Tech
SP: Blaine Traxel, West Virginia
RP: Isaac Stebens, Oklahoma State
RP: Garrett Wright, TCU
A tie resulted in five outfielders on the second team.
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Baylor: Cortlan Castle
Kansas State: Kaelen Culpepper, Brady Day, Nick Goodwin, Brendan Jones, Raphael Pelletier
Oklahoma: Dakota Harris, James Hitt, Anthony Mackenzie, Bryce Madron, Kendall Pettis, John Spikerman
Oklahoma State: Ben Abram, Nolan McLean (RP), Juaron Watts-Brown
TCU: Karson Bowen, Kole Klecker, Cole Fontenelle, Louis Rodriguez
Texas: Eric Kennedy, Jared Thomas
Texas Tech: Brandon Beckel, Gage Harrelson, Hudson White
West Virginia: David Hagaman, Grant Hussey, Dayne Leonard, Aidan Major, Caleb McNeely, Logan Sauve, Tevin Tucker
All-Freshman Team
Kolby Branch, Baylor*
Kodey Shojinaga, Kansas*
Easton Carmichael, Oklahoma
Carson Benge, Oklahoma State*
Nolan Schubart, Oklahoma State*
Ben Abeldt, TCU
Karson Bowen, TCU*
Kole Klecker, TCU
Anthony Silva, TCU*
Jared Thomas, Texas*
Kevin Bazzell, Texas Tech*
Gage Harrelson, Texas Tech
*-unanimous selection
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