College Coaching Confidential: Who Will Be The 2024 NCAA Player Of The Year?
Image credit: (Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)
At the American Baseball Coaches Association convention earlier this month, Baseball America surveyed coaches around the sport on a variety of topics to get the pulse of the profession ahead of the season. The coaches surveyed work at a wide variety of programs, from blue bloods to low majors and everything in between.
Today’s question is a straightforward one: Who will be the 2024 Player of the Year?
Unlike our first question (Who will win the national championship?), our panelists provided a clear answer. Florida first baseman/lefthander Jac Caglianone received the bulk of the votes, ahead of Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz and West Virginia infielder JJ Wetherholt.
| Jac Caglianone, Florida | 45% |
| Nick Kurtz, Wake Forest | 18% |
| JJ Wetherholt, West Virginia | 13.6% |
Caglianone is an unsurprising favorite for Player of the Year. He last season was a Golden Spikes Award finalist, set a BBCOR-era single-season record with 33 home runs and also served as a weekend starter for the national runner-up. He checks every box you’d look for in a potential Player of the Year.
Kurtz and Wetherholt were the other two players to receive multiple votes. Neither is a particularly surprising choice, either. Kurtz hit .353/.527/.784 with 24 home runs and earned All-American honors for the team that was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. He this year is among the favorites to be the first overall draft pick.
If Kurtz isn’t the favorite to be the No. 1 pick, it’s probably Wetherholt. He last year won the national batting title, hitting .449/.517/.787 with 16 home runs and 36 stolen bases to earn All-American honors at second base. He will this season move to shortstop for the Mountaineers.
The trio of Caglianone, Kurtz and Wetherholt did not soak up all the votes. Georgia slugger Charlie Condon, Kurtz’s teammates Chase Burns and Seaver King, LSU third baseman Tommy White and Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazanna all earned nods as well.
But Caglianone dominated the overall voting. For many coaches, it was a clearcut answer.
“Caglianone,” one said. “There’s no question he has the most talent.”
