On Thursday, WVU star second baseman was named one of five finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, an award honoring the nation’s top player baseball player in the United States. Wetherholt is accompanied by Florida’s Jac Caglianone, LSU’s Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes, and Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder.
Wetherholt’s name was left off of the Golden Spike’s Award’s finalist list, despite having the nation’s best batting average along with 16 home runs and 60 runs batted in. The Dick Howser Trophy is considered by some to be the “Heisman Trophy” of college baseball, so a spot on this list is the biggest honor of the young sophomore’s career to this point.
Wetherholt joins Alek Manoah as the only Mountaineers to be honored as a finalist for the award, as the Blue Jays’ right-hander was named back in 2019.
Notable recent winners of the Dick Howser Trophy include Baltimore Orioles’ catcher Adley Rutschman (2019) , White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi (2015) , and Rockies’ outfielder Kris Bryant (2013). Other past winners from over a decade ago include former Giants catcher and three-time World Series champion Buster Posey (2008) , former Cy Young winner David Price (2007) , and World Series champions Mark Teixeira (2000) and Jason Varitek (1994).
The winner for the Dick Howser Trophy will be announced on Thursday, June 15 on MLB Network at 10 a.m.
Photo by Aaron Parker.
