CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today unveiled the 2022 Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list, moving closer to naming the top amateur baseball player in the country. The winner of the 44th Golden Spikes Award will be announced on Friday, June 24, on ESPN.
The midseason watch list features 45 of the nation's top amateur players from the high school and college ranks and includes 26 athletes who have played their way onto the watch list since the preseason list was announced on February 15. 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 24.
“We are thrilled to recognize these forty-five amateur athletes on the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list for their incredible performances throughout the first half of the 2022 season,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball’s Executive Director and CEO. “Each of these athletes has proven themselves worthy of consideration for this prestigious award through both their talent and character. We look forward to seeing what the rest of this exciting season holds before crowning the latest Golden Spikes Award winner in June.”
The watch list is headlined by Jacob Berry (LSU) and Jace Jung (Texas Tech), who were both named Golden Spikes Award semifinalists in 2021. Additionally, eight athletes are making their second appearance on the midseason watch list in 2022 after also being named to the list last season, including Berry, Justin Campbell (Oklahoma State), Dylan Crews (LSU), Jung, Dominic Keegan (Vanderbilt), Brooks Lee (Cal Poly), Parker Messick (Florida State), and Kevin Parada (Georgia Tech).
Tennessee, Texas, and Vanderbilt lead all 34 schools represented with three athletes each on the 2022 midseason watch list while Cal Poly, Louisville, LSU, Oregon State, and Virginia each boast two representatives.
In total, 12 different NCAA conferences have at least one athlete on the list. The Southeastern Conference tops all represented conferences with 12 athletes, while nine play in the Atlantic Coast Conference and five hail from the Big 12.
The 2022 Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list features five athletes that will look to become just the third player from a non-NCAA Division I school to win the award (Alex Fernandez, 1990; Bryce Harper, 2010), including Haydn McGeary (Colorado Mesa) who is representing NCAA Division II this year.
The 2022 midseason watch list also features the highest number of high school baseball players ever. Elijah Green (IMG Academy), Termarr Johnson (Mays High School), Druw Jones (Wesleyan High School), and Dylan Lesko (Buford High School) were all named to the 2022 midseason list after also appearing on the preseason list to start 2022 and are the first athletes from their respective schools to earn the honor.
Arkansas’ Kevin Kopps took home the prestigious award most recently in 2021, joining a group of recent winners that includes Adley Rutschman (2019), Andrew Vaughn (2018), Brendan McKay (2017), Kyle Lewis (2016), Andrew Benintendi (2015), A.J. Reed (2014), Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008) and David Price (2007).
On Tuesday, May 24, USA Baseball will announce the semifinalists for the 2022 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 the previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 150 voters. As part of this selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of semifinalists. On June 8, 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 2022. 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 44th Golden Spikes Award will be named on Friday, June 24, on ESPN. To stay up-to-date on the 2022 Golden Spikes Award visit GoldenSpikesAward.com and follow @USAGoldenSpikes on Twitter and Instagram.
The 2022 Golden Spikes Award timeline:
May 24: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, fan voting begins
June 6: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists fan voting ends
June 8: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, fan voting begins
June 14: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists fan voting ends
June 24: USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award trophy presentation
A complete list of the 45-player 2022 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list is as follows:
Name, Position, School, Conference
- Hunter Barco; LHP; Florida; Southeastern Conference
- Drew Beam; RHP; Tennessee; Southeastern Conference
- Jacob Berry; INF; LSU; Southeastern Conference
- John Michael Bertrand; LHP; Notre Dame; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Enrique Bradfield, Jr.; OF; Vanderbilt; Southeastern Conference
- Jake Brooks; RHP; UCLA; Pac-12 Conference
- Chase Burns; RHP; Tennessee; Southeastern Conference
- Justin Campbell; RHP; Oklahoma State; Big 12 Conference
- Jonathan Cannon; RHP; Georgia; Southeastern Conference
- Carlos Contreras; OF; Sam Houston; Western Athletic Conference
- Dylan Crews; OF; LSU; Southeastern Conference
- Chase DeLauter; OF; James Madison; Colonial Athletic Conference
- Nolan DeVos; RHP; Davidson; Atlantic 10 Conference
- Sonny DiChiara; INF; Auburn; Southeastern Conference
- Chase Dollander; RHP; Tennessee Southeastern Conference
- Jake Gelof; INF; Virginia; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Elijah Green; OF; IMG Academy
- Pete Hansen; LHP; Texas; Big 12 Conference
- Thomas Harrington; RHP; Campbell; Big South Conference
- Cooper Hjerpe; LHP; Oregon State; Pac-12 Conference
- Gabriel Hughes; RHP; Gonzaga; West Coast Conference
- Jack Hurley; OF; Virginia Tech; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Termarr Johnson; INF; Mays High School
- Druw Jones; OF; Wesleyan High School
- Jace Jung; INF; Texas Tech; Big 12 Conference
- Dominic Keegan; UTIL; Vanderbilt; Southeastern Conference
- Christian Knapczyk; INF; Louisville; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Brooks Lee; SS; Cal Poly; Big West Conference
- Dylan Lesko; RHP; Buford High School
- Karson Ligon; RHP; Miami; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Chris McElvain; RHP; Vanderbilt; Southeastern Conference
- Haydn McGeary; C; Colorado Mesa; Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference
- Ivan Melendez; INF; Texas; Big 12 Conference
- Jacob Melton; OF/INF; Oregon State; Pac-12 Conference
- Parker Messick; LHP; Florida State; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Ben Metzinger; C/INF; Louisville; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Connor Noland; RHP; Arkansas; Southeastern Conference
- Kevin Parada; C; Georgia Tech; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Nate Savino; LHP; Virginia; Atlantic Coast Conference
- Nolan Schanuel; INF/OF; Florida Atlantic; Conference USA
- Jordan Sprinkle; INF; UC Santa Barbara; Big West Conference
- Murphy Stehly; INF; Texas; Big 12 Conference
- Daniel Susac; C; Arizona; Pac-12 Conference
- Drew Thorpe; RHP; Cal Poly; Big West Conference
- Jacob Wilson; INF; Grand Canyon; Western Athletic Conference
