Golden Spikes Award midseason watchlist announced in college baseball

DURHAM, N.C. — USA Baseball unveiled the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list on Wednesday, moving closer to naming the top amateur baseball player in the country. Presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation, the winner of the 42nd Golden Spikes Award will be announced on June 14.

COLLEGE BASEBALL RANKINGS: UCLA stays No. 1 | 5 takeaways from an impactful weekend

The midseason watch list features 40 of the nation's top amateur players from the high school and college ranks, and includes 21 athletes whom have played their way onto the watch list since the preseason list was announced on Feb. 5. The Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board will continue to maintain a rolling list of athletes, allowing players to play themselves into consideration for the award before announcing the semifinalists on May 15.

"We are happy to honor forty amateur athletes on the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list who have performed at an elite level through the midway part of their season," said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball's Executive Director and CEO. "Each one of these athletes are deserving of this recognition and we look forward to joining the rest of the amateur baseball world in watching the rest of their seasons unfold before announcing the Golden Spikes Award semifinalists in May." 

This week’s Spotlight checks in with reigning GSA winner Andrew Vaughn of . He continues to perform at an incredible level, and is in the discussion among the greatest hitters in college baseball history:

— Aaron Fitt (@aaronfitt)

The watch list is headlined by Adley Rutschman (Oregon State), Spencer Torkelson (Arizona State) and Andrew Vaughn (California), who are being recognized on the midseason watch list for the second straight year. Torkelson and Vaughn were also named semifinalists for the award in 2018 before Vaughn was ultimately named the Golden Spikes Award winner after a stellar sophomore campaign in Berkeley. 

Arizona State leads all schools with three athletes on the 2019 midseason watch list while Mississippi State, NC State, Oregon State, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Washington each placed two athletes on the list.

ALL-TIME GREAT COACHES: Here's who has the most College World Series wins

In total, 13 different NCAA conferences have at least one athlete on the list. The Southeastern Conference leads all conferences represented on the midseason watch list with 10 athletes, while eight players represent the Pac-12 Conference and five hail from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

One National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and two high school athletes are on the midseason watch list in 2019 and will look to join Alex Fernandez (1990) and Bryce Harper (2010) as a Golden Spikes Award winner who claimed their respective trophies as a non-NCAA Division I athlete. Austin Sojka (Oklahoma Wesleyan) represents the NAIA on the list while Brett Baty (Lake Travis High School) and Bobby Witt Jr. (Colleyville High School) are the only high school baseball players recognized by the advisory board on the watch list.

Last year, Cal's Vaughn took home the prestigious award, joining a group of recent winners that include Brendan McKay (2017), Kyle Lewis (2016), Andrew Benintendi (2015), A.J. Reed (2014), Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008) and David Price (2007).

In 2013 San Diego's Kris Bryant was baseball's best

On Wednesday, May 15, USA Baseball will announce the semifinalists for the 2019 Golden Spikes Award. The list of semifinalists will then be sent to a voting body consisting of baseball media members, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and 40 of the previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters. As part of this selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of semifinalists. On May 29, USA Baseball will announce the finalists, and voting for the winner will begin that same day.

Fan voting will once again be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2019. Beginning with the semifinalist announcement and continuing through the finalist round voting deadline, fans from across the country will be able to vote for their favorite player on GoldenSpikesAward.com.

The winner of the 42nd Golden Spikes Award will be named on Friday, June 14.

USA Baseball has partnered with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation to host the Golden Spikes Award since 2013. The Foundation was formed to honor legendary University of Southern California and USA Baseball Olympic team coach, Rod Dedeaux, and supports youth baseball and softball programs in underserved communities throughout Southern California.

The 2019 Golden Spikes Award timeline:

• May 15: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, voting begins
• May 26: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists voting ends
• May 29: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, voting begins
• June 10: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists voting ends
• June 14: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award trophy presentation

A complete list of the 40-player Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list is as follows: