Big 12 Baseball: 2023 All-Big 12 Individual Awards Announced
The 2023 All-Big 12 Baseball Individual Awards have been announced ahead of the Big 12 Baseball tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday.
West Virginia second baseman JJ Wetherholt was named Big 12 Player of the Year and Texas lefthander Lucas Gordon was named Pitcher of the Year as the Conference unveiled its 2023 All-Big 12 Baseball Awards. The honorees were selected in a vote of the league’s head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
WVU’s Randy Mazey was picked as Coach of the Year after leading the Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular season title. Oklahoma State’s Nolan Schubart and Kansas’ Kodey Shojinaga were named Co-Freshmen of the Year and OSU’s Tyler Wulfert was picked as Newcomer of the Year.
Here’s a look at each of the award winners, and what the Big 12 press release had to say about each of them.
2023 BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR – JJ WETHERHOLT, WEST VIRGINIA
Wetherholt ranks second in Division I with a .447 batting average and is on track to have the highest batting average for a Big 12 hitter since 1999. More than just a singles hitter, the sophomore from Mars, Pennsylvania has added 15 home runs, 21 doubles and has driven in 56 runs on the campaign. He is the first West Virginia player to win the award.
2023 BIG 12 PITCHER OF THE YEAR – LUCAS GORDON, TEXAS
Gordon leads Big 12 starting pitchers with a 2.48 earned run average while posting a 6-1 record on the season. The Los Angeles native has struck out 85 batters and held his opponents to a .210 batting average. He is the eighth Longhorn hurler to win the award, and the second in the past three seasons.
2023 BIG 12 CO-FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – NOLAN SCHUBART, OKLAHOMA STATE; KODEY SHOJINAGA, KANSAS
Schubart hit .348 to rank second among all players in the Big 12 with 20 doubles, 15 home runs and 66 RBIs. He also ranks among the Big 12’s leaders in RBIs (second), doubles (third), home runs (fifth) and slugging percentage (.695, fourth). The outfielder from Durand, Michigan is the first Oklahoma State hitter to be honored as the league’s top freshman since Corey Brown was named Freshman Player of the Year in 2005.
Shojinaga is the first Kansas player to win Freshman of the Year, earning his nod due to a .380 batting average with 17 extra-base hits and 40 runs scored. He was the Big 12’s leading hitter in Conference games, hitting .418 and scoring 20 runs in 24 Big 12 games.
2023 BIG 12 NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – TYLER WULFERT, OKLAHOMA STATE
Wulfert leads the Cowboys with a .355 batting average and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with a .695 slugging percentage. The third baseman, who transferred from Midland Junior College, has added nine home runs, 15 doubles and three triples. He is the fifth OSU player to be voted as Newcomer of the Year and the first since Christian Encarnacion-Strand in 2021.
2023 BIG 12 COACH OF THE YEAR – RANDY MAZEY, WEST VIRGINIA
Mazey was named Coach of the Year for the second time in four complete seasons, having captured the award in 2019. Mazey led the No. 21 Mountaineers to a share of the Big 12 regular season title with a 15-9 record.
