Freshman Gavin Kelly is proving why he was a highly anticipated high school baseball prospect. Kelly is having a great freshman season in Morgantown.
Coming into the 2025 season, at least six starters were returning from the main lineup from last season -- Logan Sauve, Grant Hussey, Sam White, Brodie Kresser, Skylar King, and Kyle West aall came back to the program after starting a lot of games in 2024.
The expectation for many WVU baseball fans was that there were not a lot of opportunities to see new faces in the lineup in 2025. There have been two new faces that are thriving in the lineup that were not on the team last season. West Virginia native, Jace “Rhino” Rinehart, has returned to his home state after not getting a scholarship offered by WVU after his high school baseball career. Not only has Rinehart returned home, but he has been spectacular in a West Virginia uniform.
In a bit of contrast to Rinehart’s age and experience in college baseball, Kelly was not expected by some fans to receive a lot of playing because of his true freshman status and the lack of experience in collegiate baseball. But that has not been the case at all so far in the 2025 season. Kelly has appeared in 34 games and made 28 starts this season for the Mountaineers.
The true freshman has a batting avergae of .324 -- good for fourth on the team -- and has tallied with seven extra-base hits (one home run) and 31 RBIs, and is even a threat on the bases going a near-perfect 13-14 on stolen base attempts.
Kelly is listed as a catcher on the official WVU roster, but he has earned time in the outfield as well as many at-bats as the designated hitter. WVU Baseball fans who have paid attention so far this season can tell that Kelly is an athlete and has the athleticism to play all over the diamond.
The Collier, Pennsylvania, native was a highly touted high school prospect. Playing his high school baseball at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, Kelly earned some high rankings from Perfect Game.
According to Perfect Game, the true freshman for WVU was the number one-ranked catcher in Pennsylvania and the seventh-ranked player in the state. In addition to his great state rankings, Kelly also ranked as the 29th catcher in the country and the 267th overall prospect in the country. Showcasing his speed with a 6.68-60 yard dash, that speed for the Collier, Pennsylvania, native has been on display for the Mountaineers in 2025 with his base-stealing ability.