FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
DURHAM, N.C. — USA Baseball released an updated 60-man Golden Spikes Award Watch List Tuesday, bringing the organization one step closer to identifying the top amateur baseball player in the country. Sponsored by Major League Baseball, the 33rd annual Golden Spikes Award will be presented in 2010 on Tuesday, July 13, at the 2010 Major League Baseball All-Star FanFest in Anaheim, Calif.
On the heels of the 50-man preseason list released in February, the updated version includes 23 new athletes who have played themselves into consideration, while there are 13 names that have been removed. The watch list will continue to be a “rolling list” up until June 1 when 30 semifinalists are announced. This will ensure that athletes can still play themselves into consideration over the course of the month of May.
“As with all sports and end-of-season awards there are athletes who perform above and beyond expectations and thus play their way into the conversation,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “It is our job to identify those players and make sure they are properly considered as we work toward crowning baseball’s top amateur talent in 2010.”
Texas leads all schools with five players named to the watch list. Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisiana State are tied for second with three names each. Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton, Coastal Carolina, Texas A&M, UCLA, Virginia and Virginia Tech each have two.
The ACC tops all conferences with 13 watch list players. Other leaders include the SEC with 10 athletes, the Big 12 with eight, Conference USA with five and the Big West, Ohio Valley and Pac-10 with three each. Juniors dominate the list with 35 players named. Sophomores are next with 18 players, with seniors having six and Southern Nevada’s Bryce Harper representing the lone freshman.
On Tuesday, June 1, USA Baseball officials will cut the watch list of players to 30 names. The final list of 30 will then be sent to a voting body consisting of select professional baseball personnel, past USA Baseball National Team coaches, select members of the media, former USA Baseball sports information directors, and current USA Baseball staff – close to 150 voters in total.
Fan voting will once again be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2010. June 1 will also mark the day when college baseball fans from across the country will be able to vote for their favorite player for the Golden Spikes Award on GoldenSpikesAward.com. As part of this selection process all voters will be asked to choose five players from the list of 30 names. On Tuesday, June 8, USA Baseball will announce the five finalists, and voting will once again commence that same day.
The 2010 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award will be presented nationally July 13 on an award show via live telecast from Anaheim on GoldenSpikesAward.com, USABaseball.com and MLB.com in conjunction with All-Star FanFest.
Past winners of the Golden Spikes Award include Terry Francona (1980), Will Clark (1985), Robin Ventura (1988), Jason Varitek (1994), J.D. Drew (1997), Mark Prior (2001), Jered Weaver (2004), Tim Lincecum (2006), David Price (2007), Buster Posey (2008) and last year’s winner, Stephen Strasburg.
2010 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Important Dates
- Thursday, Feb. 18 – 50-man watch list released, shaped by USA Baseball officials, advisors and college SIDs
- Today – 60-man watch list released, shaped by USA Baseball officials, advisors and college SIDs
- Tuesday, June 1 – 30 semifinalists announced, selected by USA Baseball officials, semifinalist voting begins, voters to select five
- Friday, June 4 – Deadline for finalist votes, 5:00 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, June 8 – Five finalists announced, finalist voting begins, voters to select one
- Friday, June 18 – Deadline for winner votes, 5:00 p.m. ET
- Tuesday, July 13 – Golden Spikes Award presentation live at All-Star FanFest in Anaheim
The updated 2010 Golden Spikes Award Watch List is as follows:
Name, School, Position, Class (in order of name, new players in bold)
Trevor Bauer, UCLA, RHP, Sophomore
Chad Bettis, Texas Tech, RHP, Junior
Daniel Bibona, UC Irvine, LHP, Senior
Bryce Brentz, Middle Tennessee, OF/RHP, Junior
Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton, IF, Junior
Michael Choice, Texas-Arlington, OF, Junior
Gerrit Cole, UCLA, RHP, Sophomore
Christian Colon, Cal State Fullerton, IF, Junior
Blake Cooper, South Carolina, RHP, Senior
Jordan Cooper, Wichita, RHP, Sophomore
Zack Cox, Arkansas, IF/RHP, Sophomore
Todd Cunningham, Jacksonville State, OF, Junior
Blake Dean, Louisiana State, IF/OF, Senior
Derek Dietrich, Georgia Tech, IF, Junior
Chris Duffy, Central Florida, IF/OF, Senior
Brett Eibner, Arkansas, RHP/OF, Junior
Micah Gibbs, Louisiana State, C, Junior
Sean Gilmartin, Florida State, LHP, Sophomore
Phil Gosselin, Virginia, IF/OF, Junior
Yasmani Grandal, Miami (Fla.), C, Junior
Sonny Gray, Vanderbilt, RHP, Sophomore
Cole Green, Texas, RHP/OF, Junior
Jedd Gyorko, West Virginia, IF, Junior
Jesse Hahn, Virginia Tech, RHP, Sophomore
Bryce Harper, Southern Nevada, C/IF/OF, Freshman
Paul Hoilman, East Tennessee State, RHP/IF, Sophomore
Tyler Holt, Florida State, OF, Junior
Danny Hultzen, Virginia, LHP/IF, Sophomore
Taylor Jungmann, Texas, RHP, Sophomore
A.J. Kirby-Jones, Tennessee Tech, IF/RHP, Junior
Jayson Langfels, Eastern Kentucky, IF, Sophomore
Barret Loux, Texas A&M, RHP, Junior
Zack MacPhee, Arizona State, IF, Sophomore
Mike McGee, Florida State, RHP/OF, Junior
Deck McGuire, Georgia Tech, RHP, Junior
Hunter Morris, Auburn, IF/OF, Junior
Kyle Parker, Clemson, OF/IF, Junior
Tony Plagman, Georgia Tech, IF, Senior
Drew Pomeranz, Mississippi, LHP, Junior
Anthony Ranaudo, Louisiana State, RHP, Junior
Addison Reed, San Diego State, RHP, Junior
Anthony Rendon, Rice, IF, Sophomore
Kyle Roller, East Carolina, IF, Senior
Chance Ruffin, Texas, RHP, Junior
Cameron Rupp, Texas, C, Junior
Chris Sale, Florida Gulf Coast, LHP, Junior
Rob Segedin, Tulane, IF/RHP, RS Sophomore
John Stilson, Texas A&M, RHP/IF, Sophomore
Preston Tucker, Florida, IF, Sophomore
Kolbrin Vitek, Ball State, IF/RHP, Junior
B.A. Vollmuth, Southern Mississippi, IF, Sophomore
Austin Wates, Virginia Tech, OF, Junior
Cody Wheeler, Coastal Carolina, LHP, Junior
Alex Wimmers, Ohio State, RHP, Junior
Mickey Wiswall, Boston College, IF, Junior
Asher Wojciechowski, The Citadel, RHP, Junior
Kolten Wong, Hawaii, IF, Sophomore
Scott Woodward, Coastal Carolina, IF, Junior
Brandon Workman, Texas, RHP, Junior
Phil Wunderlich, Louisville, IF/OF, Junior
About the Golden Spikes Award
Since 1978, USA Baseball has honored the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award. Following the first ever presentation of the Award to Bob Horner of Arizona State, the Golden Spikes Award has been presented each year to the player who exhibits exceptional athletic ability and exemplary sportsmanship. The 2009 Golden Spikes Award winner was Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State. Past winners of this prestigious award include current Major League Baseball players such as David Price (’07), Tim Lincecum (’06), Alex Gordon (’05), Jered Weaver (’04), Rickie Weeks (’03), Khalil Greene (’02), Jason Jennings (’00), Pat Burrell (‘98), J.D. Drew (’97), Mark Kotsay (’95), and Jason Varitek (’94). Former Major League stars that have captured the award include Robin Ventura (’88), Jim Abbott (’87), Will Clark (’85), Dave Magadan (’83), Terry Francona (’80), Tim Wallach (’79), and Bob Horner (’78). For more information, please visit GoldenSpikesAward.com.
About USA Baseball
USA Baseball is the National Governing Body of amateur baseball in the United States and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). The organization selects and trains the United States Olympic Baseball Team (and all other USA Baseball Professional Teams); the USA Baseball National Team (Collegiate); the USA Baseball 18U, 16U and 14U National Teams; and the USA Baseball Women’s National Team, all of which participate in various international competitions each year. USA Baseball also presents the Golden Spikes Award annually to top player in college baseball. For more information, please visit USABaseball.com and GoldenSpikesAward.com. To receive monthly USA Baseball E-mail newsletters delivered straight to your inbox, please visit USABaseball.com and register for free in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage.
5 comments
what a shame that your list has no Florida Gator players listed. With their current run to the national championship, I was wondering how you could leave out a player or two from the Gators
We don’t make the list…USA Baseball does. At the same time, I agree that den Dekker, Maddox and Tucker could easily have made the list. Maddox will undoubtedly be on this list the next two seasons.
Umm, Preston Tucker is on the list.
Chris Duffy should win the Golden Spikes. Excellent average around .440, a lot of home runs 17 and rbi’s 65. Probably the best player in college baseball even ahead of Grandal who is the 2nd.
I have a child that attends VMI and stopped by this past Saturday to watch them play baseball. They played Wintrhop and the Wintrhop pitcher (#8) was blowing everything past our hitters. The board showed him throwing arounding 90-93, but the impressing thing was that he was still throwing that in the ninth inning.
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