MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia sophomore JJ Wetherholt has been named as one of four finalists for the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award (BBNCSA) presented by SR Bats, as announced by the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation.
 
The BBNCSA was open to nominations from all Division I baseball programs in the country. The BBNCSA originally had 51 players nominated for the award at the beginning of the season and added eight players, including Wetherholt, to its midseason watch list. The award is based on performance at the plate, academics, and personal integrity.
 
The other finalists include Dylan Crews of LSU, Nolan Schanuel of Florida Atlantic, and Charlie Condon of Georgia. The winner of the BBNCSA will be announced later this month and honored at a gala in the fall.
 
"I think the BBNCSA Selection Committee had an extremely tough job this year given the depth and performance of our best Watch List in the history of the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats," said Tracy Taylor, Executive Director of the BBNCSA and the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation. "You can't go wrong with three upperclassmen that hit over .430 for the season and were the top three hitters in Division I plus a redshirt freshman who hit .386 with 25 homers.  This year's finalists include the Player's of The Year from the SEC (Crews), the Big 12 (Wetherholt) and Conference USA (Schanuel) and Condon was the SEC Freshman Of the Year."
 
Wetherholt put up the greatest offensive season in WVU history as he hit a nation-leading .449 with 16 home runs, 24 doubles, two triples, 60 RBI, 67 runs scored, and 36 stolen bases. He was also named the Big 12 Player of the Year, a Collegiate Baseball first-team All-American and a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy.
 
Off the field, he has 3.87 GPA while majoring in finance which led to him being named a first-team Academic All-American by College Sports Communicators, just the fourth Academic All-American in Mountaineer baseball history.
 
Wetherholt is also one of the most vocal leaders on the Mountaineers, serving as a consummate teammate, always looking to give credit, and offering words of encouragement to others.
  
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