Rutgers baseball Josh Kuroda-Grauer is on pace for another major honor when he was named a 2024 Brooks Wallace Award semifinalist.
The award honors the nation’s top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year. It is the second straight year that Kuroda-Grauer has been a semifinalist for the award.
The 29 semifinalists for the 2024 award are the top shortstops in the country, representing a wide array of players from both Power Five and mid-major schools who are putting up incredible numbers.
The award honors shortstops who logged outstanding defense and recorded high production at the plate.
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One. Step. Closer.
JKG is a semifinalist for the @BWAward 🏆
➡️ https://t.co/UJJMOFJnEn #TCD pic.twitter.com/hi7ThFfuCu
— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) May 24, 2024
On Tuesday, Rutgers shortstop received a major award when he was named the 2024 Big Ten Player of the Year. He is the first player in program history to receive Big Ten Player of the Year honors and is the first conference player of the year since Patrick Kivlehan was named Big East Player of the Year in 2012.
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Kuroda-Grauer put together a fantastic season for the Scarlet Knight, starting all 53 games at shortstop for Rutgers. He led the country in hits (95) and hits per game (1.79), registering a .428 batting average.
The 2024 USA Baseball Golden Spike Award Semifinalist ranked third in the country in batting average and stolen bases (24). Throughout the season, Kuroda-Grauer had 29 multi-hit games, 10 three-hit games, and logged five consecutive games with three-plus hits.