West Virginia’s Grant Hussey settles under a pop fly during a Big 12 Conference baseball game against Arizona on Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Granville.
West Virginia’s Grant Hussey settles under a pop fly during a Big 12 Conference baseball game against Arizona on Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Granville.
GRANVILLE — West Virginia first baseman Grant Hussey is first and foremost noted for his prodigious blasts at the plate, and understandably so.
WVU’s all-time home run leader’s smooth, majestic swing propels balls into near-orbit, which he has done 43 times in his career entering Friday’s game at UCF. He has added 40 doubles and two triples to his extra-base hit totals.
All of that has helped earn him a place in WVU history, to go along with an iconic nickname — “The Huss Bus,†which invites fans to take a ride with him as he sends another ball out of the park.
All that, though, tends to obscure Hussey’s defense, which in many ways is just as noteworthy as his work with the bat. Over his career, he might have saved more runs for the Mountaineers in the field than he has produced at the plate, which is saying something, considering he has 146 RBIs.
“He goes unnoticed usually, but there are two or three picks per game and two foul pops,†said WVU coach Steve Sabins, listing some of the plays that Hussey turns in regularly. “He is always in tune with pitchers on pickoffs, and then he makes the spectacular play on top of the routine play.â€
Hussey, who typically downplays any of his big hits or great picks, said he turned a corner between his sophomore and junior seasons. In 2023, he had eight errors and saw his fielding percentage dip from .991 the season before to .982 — by no means catastrophic but enough to get at least some notice.
More work and attention on his defense helped him turn in a junior season in 2024 in which he committed only one error while recording 34 assists. That resulted in a fielding rate of .998 and put him in position to become one of the best fielders in WVU history.
“Last year, I picked up the confidence with it,†said Hussey, whose career fielding percentage of .991 is near WVU’s all-time top 10. “I had a good year and I brought it into this year.â€
Hussey particularly shines in scooping up short-hop throws from infielders, turning what could be an extra-base error into an out. With his height and range, he also has a wide catch radius that allows him to flag down more errant throws, but those aren’t the only physical traits that help him in the field.
“He’s a little bit ballerina-ish around the bag,†said Sabins, coining a new word to describe Hussey’s fluidity. “Bad throws, high, low, in-between, his feet move around the bag and it’s incredible to watch.â€
Sabins was also looking as Hussey put in the time to take his defense to another level.
“He enjoys it. He likes it and he works at it every day. It’s special to watch him train. He takes a million balls every day,†Sabins said. “I would like to put together a highlight film of him for the future of our team to say, ‘If you want to be a great first baseman, this is the standard.’â€
Hussey has certainly set those, not just at the plate but in the field. He has two errors this year, so he won’t match last year’s nearly flawless performance, but the number of over-the-shoulder catches, adjustments, picks and scoops he makes massively outweighs the occasional miscue. So much so, in fact, that Sabins has no problem dishing out even more praise.
“He might,†Sabins said, “be the best first baseman in the nation.â€
