Incoming WVU Slugger is Tearing Up the Northwoods League

The one area West Virginia wasn't highly productive in during the 2026 season was putting baseballs over the fence. As a team, the Mountaineers hit 58 home runs on the year with Gavin Kelly leading the way, belting 19 out of the park.

I'm not ready to say the 2027 Mountaineers will be a lineup full of sluggers, but they'll definitely have more power, thanks to the additions they made in the transfer portal, as well as the junior college ranks.

Johnson County first baseman Colin Coonradt looks to be a big part of that expected power surge after smashing 37 homers this past season. Now, of course, that type of production isn't likely to hold up at the Division I level, but power is power, and he has a boatload of it.

This summer, Coonradt is playing for the Waterloo Bucks of the Northwoods League, which is the top college summer ball league out there, and all he's done is continue to barrel up the baseball. In 16 games so far, Coonradt is 22-for-59 (.373) with six home runs and 19 RBI, giving him a slugging percentage of .729 and an OPS of 1.009.

It's not like he's facing a bunch of bums either. The Northwoods League has a bunch of future draft picks scattered across all of the teams, so Coonradt is proving that he can mash against some of the best talent out there.

Another trend that has continued for him is walking more than he's striking out, which is a really rare thing for a guy who contains so much power. Most home run hitters have high strikeout rates and hardly ever draw walks. That's been far from the case for Coonradt. During his junior college season, he struck out 46 times while walking 61 times. That gives him a strikeout rate of 20.1%, which is pretty solid for a guy with that much pop.

In Northwoods League play, he's been even better at putting the ball in play, striking out just 16.9% of the time, which is in that elite range. Ten strikeouts to fourteen walks in sixteen games against high-level pitching. That's not just a JUCO-influenced trend anymore. That's who he is as a player.

Assuming he is able to carry this over into next season, the Mountaineers will have a top-notch power bat in the middle of their lineup, which will give Gavin Kelly some elite protection in the two-hole.

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