Jackson Cramer is not only becoming the best player for the WVU baseball team, he is emerging as one of the top stars in the Big 12 Conference.
Cramer gained recognition, again, for his solid performance by earning the Big 12 Player of the Week honor following four wins by the Mountaineers. In that successful stretch, the WVU baseball team swept Texas at home.
Related Story: WVU baseball sweeps Texas
Cramer hails from deep in the heart of Big 12 Country, Coppell, Texas. A baseball hotbed, Cramer chose to attend West Virginia back in 2013. So, as the Mountaineers were joining a new conference, Cramer was traveling across the country.
According to perfectgame.com, Cramer was one of the Top 100 prospects in the state of Texas that year. A ranking like that leaves a lot to live up to. Right off the bat, Cramer has been expected to be a leader on the team.
He received playing time early on, appearing in 41 games as a freshman. He ultimately earned Academic All-Big 12 and batted .242.
Frome there, Cramer has certainly helped the Mountaineers, not only get their foot in the door within one of the top baseball conferences in the country, but also allowing his team to compete at a high level.
He has now won three Big 12 Player of the Week awards this season, and the Mountaineers have had nine weekly awards from the conference. Cramer is the fifth player, all-time, to win three Big 12 Player of the Week honors in conference history.
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Cramer earned this spot by pounding out eight hits on the week and batting .400.
The junior is one of the most physically imposing players on the team, standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing in at 230 pounds.
This season, Cramer is batting .294, which is second on the team behing standout freshman Darius Hill. Cramer 12 doubles, two triples and six home runs.
That added power has come these past two seasons as he belted just one home run as a freshman and eight as a sophomore. This season, Kyle Davis has the most home runs on the team with seven.
Cramer, however, is one of three players for the WVU baseball team with a slugging percentage above .500 and a on-base percentage above .400.
"“I’m just seeing the ball better,” Cramer told The Daily Athenaeum. “I always knew I was a good player, but I wasn’t trusting it. Now I’m just trying to have fun and not press. I just have to keep working hard – good karma will come.”"
He said that back in early April. Since then, the Mountaineers have gone on a tear and have improved drastically since the start of the season.
The WVU baseball team seems to go as Cramer goes. He led an offensive onslaught against Texas and the rest of the squad reaped the benefits.
With only a handful of games left in the regular season, Cramer and the Mountaineers seem to be getting hot at just the right time.