WVU infielder JJ Wetherholt selected by St. Louis Cardinals with seventh pick in 2024 MLB Draft

The Man from Mars is making the move to the Midwest.

The St. Louis Cardinals selected West Virginia University baseball infielder JJ Wetherholt with the No. 7 overall pick in the first round of Sunday’s MLB Draft.

Wetherholt is now the highest-drafted player in WVU baseball history, which was an honor previously held by Chris Enochs (1997) and Alek Manoah (2019), who were both picked No. 11 overall.

WVU was the Mars, Pennsylvania, native’s only Power-Five offer while he was in high school. He committed as a freshman, and he left Mars Area High School as the No. 32 prospect in Pennsylvania’s 2021 recruiting class, according to Perfect Game, despite winning the 5A Pennsylvania Player of the Year as a senior.

In his 2022 freshman season, he solidified himself as a centerpiece for the future of the program when he hit .308 with a .928 OPS in 53 starts, splitting time at second base and third base in the field. He was placed on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and awarded All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

Last year, as a sophomore second baseman, he exploded onto the national scene with arguably the best season-long body of work in program history. He led the nation with a .449 batting average, which was the highest since 2008, and he became the first player since 2002 with 40 extra-base hits and at least 35 stolen bases in the same season. His assault on opposing pitching staffs helped the Mountaineers tie the program record for most wins in one season, and it earned him Big 12 Player of the Year and unanimous First-Team All-American honors.

He then took his game to the international level after his 2023 collegiate campaign was over. Despite battling a hamstring injury, his bat-to-ball skills still stood out on a collegiate USA national team littered with the best players college baseball had to offer.

It was around this point that projections for the 2024 MLB Draft started rolling in from various baseball-centric outlets. First, he was a top-10 prospect and a preseason All-American. His prospect status then increased rapidly during the college baseball preseason when he was named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, and at one point, he was projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

The hype bred massive expectations for the junior, who was transitioning to shortstop for his junior season.

He carried the momentum into the first three games of the 2024 season at Stetson when he went 4 for 13 with three stolen bases to start the year, but in the last game of the series, he injured his hamstring sliding into home plate. He missed the next 24 games.

When he returned, he did not miss a beat, hitting safely in seven of his first eight games back. He homered five times in a six-game stretch in the back half of the regular season.

At seasons’ end, he amassed a .331 batting average with eight homers with 30 RBI. The Big 12 named him to the conference’s all-conference first team, and he was named a Third-Team All-American by Perfect Game.

His final collegiate slash line reads .370/.625/.467, and his batting average is good for No. 18 on the all-time WVU career hitting records.

While his contract details are not immediately available, the Cardinals were granted a $6,823,700 slot value for the No. 7 overall pick.

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