NAME: Jonathan David ‘JJ’ Wetherholt
SCHOOL: West Virginia University
POSITION: SS/2B
HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5-10, 190
B/T: L/R
D.O.B.: 9/10/2002
Draft Scouting Report
Jonathan David (JJ) Wetherholt is a 21-year-old shortstop who played his college ball for the West Virginia Mountaineers. And boy, did he play some baseball.
Wetherholt slashed a whopping .449/.517/.787 (1.304 OPS!) en route to a NCAA batting title in 2023, adding 16 home runs and 24 doubles to his tally. Oh, and he also stole 36 bases, getting caught just 8 times. His 2024 got off to a bit of a rocky start due to a leg injury in pre-spring workouts, but when all was said and done, he was back to what we’ve come to expect, hitting a clean .331 with a 1.061 OPS, 8 home runs and 8 doubles for the 2024 season.
The 21-year-old generally displays elite bat-to-ball skills, and posted 8.21% strikeout rate in 2023 with a 26/22 strikeout-to-walk ratio. This season, he has doubled his walk rate from 9% to 18%, while only adding a few percentage points in the strikeout department (from 8 to 10%). Though his iso dropped from .338 to .258 and his BABIP came back to earth (from .443 in 2024 to .324 in 2024), he was a highly productive hitter for the second season in a row.
The power onset has been a pleasant surprise for Wetherholt, whose first season in college showed mostly a contact hitter, moreso than a power bat. 23 extra-base hits in 54 games (208 plate appearances) don’t scream ‘bopper’, but the 17 doubles did seem to indicate there was a chance for a power uptick as Wetherholt grew bigger and became more adjusted to the college game.
Defensively, Wetherholt certainly holds his own, displaying lightning-fast hands and excellent range from either the second-base or shortstop position — he played shortstop exclusively in 2024, after playing mostly second base in 2023 and third base in 2022.
After missing 7 weeks with a hamstring, JJ Wetherholt is pushing his way back into Top 5 chatter. Up to 8 HR in 28 games. Slashing .387/.528/.731 with a 27:13 BB:K ratio.
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) May 18, 2024
Truly elite approach and elite bat-to-ball metrics. 19 starts at SS too.pic.twitter.com/19KCNxM08O
After winning a Big 12 Player of the Year award and first-team All-American honors in 2023, JJ Wetherholt is now considered a de-facto top 10, perhaps even top-5 draft pick in a few weeks. He showed up for the Collegiate National Team as well during an international tour run, so he has already played with the best the college landscape has to offer. The next logical step would be a top 10 pick and the start to a potentially succesful pro career.
Why Would the White Sox Draft JJ Wetherholt?
This comes down to a combination of need and available skill level. The White Sox farm desperately needs a bat and it would probably be a pretty big surprise if the Sox go for an arm in the first round of the 2024 draft. Perhaps more importantly: Wetherholt is a dude; a potential stud hitter from the middle infield positions. He could legit be the best pure hitter in this year’s draft class, and that is the kind of player you want to have on your team. He does not strike out, he walks, he spreads the baseball around, and he can field multiple positions with above average skill level.
That said, there are quite a few interesting college players on the board for the Sox to choose from this year, and after last year’s not-so-universally-loved selection of Jacob Gonzalez (also an infielder), they might opt to go another direction this year. Wetherholt could be best case scenario for the White Sox at this point though. He’s seriously back in contention to be the first player selected in this class and could go anywhere in the top ten. The White Sox sent high level decision makers to watch West Virginia in regional play recently as well.
.@jj_wetherholt is showing us why he was 1:1 to start the year. Battled injuries all year, but an absolute NUKE.
— Jake Mckeever (@CBCJakeMck) May 9, 2024
pic.twitter.com/xszn9o2Abi
Wetherholt would instantly become a top 100 prospect in baseball and would slot in as one of the top prospects in the White Sox’s system initially. He also fits on a similar timeline to other prospects in the system and could arrive in the big leagues early in 2026.
Mock Draft Outcomes
In our most recent attempt at a mock draft here at FutureSox, James Fox predicted that JJ Wetherholt would end up with the St. Louis Cardinals at #7 overall. In a combine mock draft from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo for MLB Pipeline, the pair of draft analysts projected JJ Wetherholt to the White Sox with the 5th overall pick. Mayo noted that he’s heard the West Virginia infielder should go in the 5-10 range and also mentioned that there isn’t much separating him from Travis Bazzana as a player. Keith Law of The Athletic mocked the Mountaineer to the White Sox as well in Mock Draft 2.0.
Carlos Collazo of Baseball America and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN both mocked Wetherholt to the Cleveland Guardians with the #1 overall pick in their most recent projections. McDaniel posted an extensive two rounder last week. In his latest version with intel over at Future Stars Series, Joe Doyle projects JJ Wetherholt to the Pittsburgh Pirates with the #9 overall pick.