John Means pitches for the Baltimore Orioles in 2019. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Major League Baseball seasons of former West Virginia University pitchers John Means and Alek Manoah are over.

Means has already undergone surgery on his pitching arm and was attempting another comeback, when he was struck by further injury just weeks ago.

The left-hander played at WVU before being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and eventually reaching the Major Leagues and making an All-Star team.

He was unable to begin the 2024 season with the Orioles, but eventually became a part of their starting pitching rotation. He was removed from a game earlier this season when complaining of soreness in his pitching elbow.

Another surgery is scheduled for this month and Means will not return for any part of the 2024 season.

Alek Manoah, another former WVU pitcher and one-time first-round draft selection of the Toronto Blue Jays, received similar news to that season-ending notice Means has heard.

Manoah, like Means, was coming off rehabilitation on his pitching arm when the 2024 season opened. He had starts earlier this spring, but felt stern discomfort while on the mound.

Tests and more tests have revealed that Manoah will need arm surgery himself if he has any chance of continuing his pitching career.

Manoah’s surgery is scheduled for June 17 and he will not return again in 2024.

Current WVU infielder JJ Wetherholt just completed his third season with the Mountaineers and is eligible for this summer’s Major League draft.

Wetherholt’s stock may be somewhat diminished by his recurrent leg injuries that began to plague him last summer when he was a player in the highly regarded Cape Cod League. A hamstring injury shortened his 2023 summer season and then while back at WVU for the 2024 college season he suffered still another hamstring injury.

He missed 24 games this spring as the Mountaineers went through their Big 12 season until the end of May.

The utility infielder then returned to the Mountaineers and was inserted at shortstop after being used as a second baseman for the most part.

West Virginia’s season just ended in a Super Regional where it had qualified by winning the Tucson Regional the week before.

The injuries may have decreased his stock with Major League scouts and general managers, but Wetherholt will be drafted in the mid-July event and could sign a professional contract some time before the summer is over.