Rutgers baseball: Josh Kuroda-Grauer named semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award

With only three games left in the regular season, Rutgers baseball is turning its attention to the Big Ten tournament. The Scarlet Knights are currently the fourth-best team in the Big Ten, partly due to the play of Josh Kuroda-Grauer. On Thursday, he earned national recognition for his impressive season.

The New Jersey native was named one of the 25 semifinalists for the Brooks Wallace Award, which is given annually to the top shortstop in the country. In just his second year as a Scarlet Knight, Kuroda-Grauer has become one of the best shortstops in college baseball.

In 51 games this year, the Franklin High School product has posted a .301 batting average while driving in 32 runs. He has shown more power than he did as a freshman, as 22 of his 62 hits have gone for extra bases. His ability to add pressure with his speed makes Kuroda-Grauer a matchup nightmare for pitchers.

While the talented sophomore has excelled at the plate, he has been just as good defensively. He has only committed six errors while appearing in every game. Over the last two years, his durability has been crucial to his game.

Although Kuroda-Grauer is focused on helping Rutgers make a deep playoff run, he could soon join unique company. The list of past winners of the Brooks Wallace Award includes Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson, and Alex Bregman. All three have gone on to be very productive players in the majors.

If Kuroda-Grauer were to win the award this year, he would become the second player to do so in their sophomore season in the last 18 years. Regardless of how the next few weeks play out, Kuroda-Grauer is finally receiving national recognition for his skills.

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Story originally appeared on Rutgers Wire