Pittsburgh-area native JJ Wetherholt Excited to Head Home, Face Pirates

ST. LOUIS – Playful or not, Cardinals’ standout rookie JJ Wetherholt claimed to have no idea where the Cardinals were headed to play this next week until he got a series of text messages from parents, Mike and Holly Wetherholt, in recent days about his homecoming of sorts. Wetherholt, who grew up 28 miles north of Pittsburgh in the tiny suburb of Mars, Pa.

, will be in Pittsburgh this week for the first time as an MLB player. A standout player from his youth baseball days, Wetherholt grew up around the sons of several former Pirates players, including Athletics star shortstop Jacob Wilson. Also, a former NCAA batting champion at West Virginia University, Wetherholt played three collegiate games at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park – something that might ease the jitters about a series he certainly has anticipated, but one he claims to have forgotten about during the grind of the MLB season.

“I definitely knew we were going to go to Pittsburgh, but I was getting texts from my parents like, ‘Hey, you’re coming to Pittsburgh next week! ’ And that’s kind of how I knew,” Wetherholt said after the Cardinals’ 3-2 loss to the Mariners on Sunday at Busch Stadium. “I really don’t look too far in advance because I just kind of show up and play.

But it will be cool being back there. ” Big fans of that JJ goes deep! pic.