Breaking Down A Historic Summer For WVU Baseball Legend JJ Wetherholt

JJ Wetherholt is one of the best players to ever represent the WVU baseball program. The former Mountaineer shortstop and current St. Louis Cardinals prospect is coming off one of the best month stretches of his career.

From walk-off hits to putting up video game numbers to a recent promotion within the Cardinals' organization, the former Mountaineer has had himself one heck of a season, and we are only in early July. Taking a look at the past month or so of action, we can see how special the summer of 2025 has been for him.

The Stats Speak Loudly

Starting with his incredible month of June. Wetherholt hit for an almost unbelievable .444 average. The shortstop’s full slash line read .444/.576/.644 for a 1.220 OPS. That is a remarkable month that many minor leaguers could only dream of.

Going into more advanced stats, it only gets better. Wetherholt managed to have a hard-hit rate above 50% in the month of June, according to The Call Up, a Major League Prospect Podcast, a part of the Just Baseball organization. In addition to his exceptional hard-hit rate, the former Mountaineer posted 13 walks compared to only eight strikeouts. That positive ratio of BB/K is a sign of great vision, discipline, and bat control at the plate.

The Call Up had nothing but extremely high praise to give to Wetherholt during his historic month of June:

“The biggest shift that I see, it’s a swing that can be flatter at points, and that’s okay because of the hit tool, and the swing decisions, and he hits the ball hard enough where it’s line drives to all fields," the podcast said. "That’s a great recipe because that will put him in a position where he’s going to hit his homers, but (will hit) a ton of doubles. And that’s where I see him thriving, just hitting those doubles to both gaps. And when he catches one out front more, (he will) pull those balls out of the yard."

"He seems like he is evolving and becoming a more well-rounded hitter. Now that he could be one of the best prospects in baseball, I think, by the end of the year."

Thriving in the Clutch

The stat line only tells part of the story of his great success in the month of June. Wetherholt has had great success recently in coming up in the clutch when his team needs him the most. On July 1, Wetherholt stepped up to the plate in a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 10th inning. He proceeded to rip a two-out walk-off RBI hit to score the runner at second and end the game with a 4-3 win for the Springfield Cardinals.

Just two days later, the Cardinals’ prospect smoked a two-run double with runners at second and first with one out. This was followed up on July 6 by Wetherholt earning his first ever multi-home run game at the professional level as he knocked two homers out of the park during a 7-3 win for his team.

Those three moments were just the most recent successes that Wetherholt has had driving home runs during crunch time, but they're far from the only examples you can find this season.

One Step Closer

On Monday this week, Wetherholt was rewarded for all his hard work this season with a call-up to the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliate Memphis Redbirds. The move is a sign that his incredible summer has not went unnoticed by his organization, and that they see a bright future for the talented shortstop. He was just drafted into the organization last summer and is less than one year removed from his Single-A debut, but has already climbed to the highest level of minor league baseball.

His next opportunity to turn heads on the national level will come this weekend as he has been selected to participate in the MLB All-Star Futures Game, set to take place on July 12 during MLB All-Star Week -- the Futures game annually brings together some of the brightest young talent from the minor league level to shine during one of the biggest weeks of the year in professional baseball. The Futures Game is set for 4:10 PM EST on July 12 and will be broadcast live on MLB Network.

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