UCLA's Cholowsky Wins Perfect Game Player of the Year Award

UCLA's Roch Cholowsky is continuing to add to his Sophomore season display shelf, being named the 2025 Perfect Game College Player of the Year just days after advancing to his first College World Series.

Cholowsky has already been named the Big Ten Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, District 9 Player of the Year, and a finalist for both the Brooks Wallace award and Dick Howser Trophy, along with helping UCLA to its first CWS appearance in 12 years.

The Sophomore shortstop is starting to make a clear case for being one, if not, the best player in college baseball with a bright future ahead of him.

UCLA Athletics said in a statement announcing Cholowsky's award, "At 47-16, this season marks UCLA's highest win total since the 2019 squad went 52-11. Cholowsky posted a wins-above-replacement (WAR) mark of 6.46 to lead all Division I players while batting .367 with 23 home runs and 73 RBI. He also led the Big Ten in OPS (1.261) and slugging percentage (.761), ranking third in on-base percentage (.500), total bases (175), and runs scored (78). His 23 home runs are the most by a Bruin since 2000."

After sweeping UTSA in the Los Angeles Super Regional, Cholowsky and the No. 15-ranked Bruins take on Murray State in their first round matchup in the CWS.

"This is surreal to me," Cholowsky said following the Omaha-clinching win. "It's just something that I've dreamed of as long as I could remember. Getting to go experience [the CWS] a couple years ago just added that much more fire to the dream.

"I haven't wrapped my head around it. It's something that I'm never going to forget. But, I mean, we're not done yet. We're going there to play our game of baseball and just take it other teams, so I'm looking forward to that."

This will be Cholowsky's first trip to Omaha and UCLA's sixth in program history. Bruins coach John Savage will be making his fourth CWS appearance in 21 seasons at the helm in Westwood.

"It wasn't our goal to just get to Omaha," Savage said. "We've talked a lot about going and playing well, taking our game to whoever we play. I'm really excited for the guys, excited for the alumni, the fans. I'm excited for everyone involved. At the end of the day, it's an appreciation on my behalf towards a lot of people."