MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — JJ Wetherholt was named the best second baseman in all of college baseball this past week. The Mars, Pennsylvania native has not only been one of the best players at his position in the country, but he has been one of the best hitters in the nation, regardless of position.

Entering the weekend series against Kansas State, Wetherholt led all NCAA Division I batters in hits with 48, and was tied for sixth in the nation with a .462 batting average. The stellar sophomore went 6 for 15 (.400), with a pair of doubles and a home run against the Wildcats.

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Through 28 games, Wetherholt is among the Big 12 leaders in almost every major statistical category. With well over one month’s worth of games in the books, what Wetherholt is doing at the plate is gaining even more validity — these aren’t inflated early-season numbers, they’re legit.

Now that West Virginia has hit the midway point in its regular season, the WVU baseball program record book is in serious danger of being completely rewritten by one player. Here are all of the single-season program records Wetherholt is within striking distance of setting this season.

Batting average (post-World War II)

  • Current Record: .440 by Bobby Wallace in 1951
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: .462
  • Note: The program’s single-season record for batting average (.494) was set by Herb Stewart in 1935. However, Stewart had just 79 at-bats in 18 games that season, marks Wetherholt has already surpassed this year.

Hits

  • Current Record: 101 by Tyler Kuhn in 2008
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: 106 (54 through 28 games)
  • Note: No WVU hitter has had more than 79 hits in a season since the program joined the Big 12. Wetherholt is certainly on pace to set that record this year, and possibly the overall hits record, as well.

Runs

  • Current Record: 76 by Justin Parks in 2009
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: 71 (36 through 28 games)

Doubles

  • Current Record: 28 by Joe McNamee in 2010
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: 28 (14 through 28 games)

Total Bases

  • Current Record: 177 by Jedd Gyorko in 2010
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: 179 (91 through 28 games)

Slugging percentage

  • Current Record: .828 by Steve Rolen in 1989
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: .778

On-base percentage

  • Current Record: .546 by Greg Gilbert in 1984
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: .525

Stolen bases

  • Current Record: 38 by Victor Scott II in 2022
  • Wetherholt’s Pace: 47 (24 through 28 games)
  • Note: Scott was on a similar pace to Wetherholt, reaching 30 stolen bases by April 17th. He was then held to just eight steals over the final 22 games, including the postseason. Wetherholt has already swiped the ninth-most bags in a single season in WVU history.

Editor’s Note: Wetherholt’s pace projections only include WVU’s 55 regular season games, since it is unknown how many postseason games the team will play this season. However, postseason statistics do count toward program records, so Wetherholt can add to his totals in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.