CARY, N.C. – USA Baseball today announced the 25 semifinalists for the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, moving one step closer to identifying the top amateur baseball player in the nation. The 46th Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 22 at 7:00 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. CT) on ESPN ahead of Game 1 of the College World Series finals.
Twenty different schools are represented in this year’s semifinalist group, including five schools that placed two players each: East Carolina, Florida State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Wake Forest. Eight athletes played their way onto the list following the announcement of the Midseason Watch List in April.
“With another terrific amateur baseball season nearing the finish line, we are thrilled to honor the twenty-five best players in the country as Golden Spikes Award semifinalists,” said USA Baseball CEO/Executive Director Paul Seiler. “These athletes have put together tremendous seasons and are extremely deserving of this honor. We are excited to watch the remainder of season and to name the 46th winner of the Golden Spikes Award in June.”
Led by 2023 finalist Jac Caglianone (Florida), a group of four semifinalists from last season return to the list in 2024. Caglianone is joined by Charlie Condon (Georgia), Nick Kurtz (Wake Forest), and Hagen Smith (Arkansas) as repeat semifinalists from a season ago, while Chase Burns (Wake Forest) appears as a semifinalist after making the list in 2022. Burns has now appeared on six Golden Spikes Award watch lists in his three-year career.
In addition, 12 players were named semifinalists after making the preseason and midseason watch lists earlier this season. Caglianone, Condon, and Smith have been named to all three 2024 lists, joined by Travis Bazzana (Oregon State), Burns, Luke Holman (LSU), Ryan Johnson (Dallas Baptist), Dakota Jordan (Mississippi State), Jace LaViolette (Texas A&M), Braden Montgomery (Texas A&M), Christian Moore (Tennessee), and Trey Yesavage (East Carolina).
Texas A&M (LaViolette and Montgomery) has multiple semifinalists for the fourth time in program history and first time since 2019. This year marks the third time in Florida State’s history that it featured two semifinalists (Jamie Arnold and James Tibbs III), while it is the second time in their respective histories that Tennessee (Blake Burke and Moore) and Wake Forest (Burns and Kurtz) placed two players on the semifinalist list. It is the first time East Carolina has boasted two semifinalists with Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman and Yesavage.
Overall, nine different conferences are represented among the 25 semifinalists. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) features nine players, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which has seven. The American Athletic Conference (AAC) and Conference USA both boast two players on the 2024 list, while the Big Ten, Big 12, Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), Pac-12, and Sun Belt have one player apiece.
LSU’s Dylan Crews is the most recent winner of the Golden Spikes Award, earning the prestigious honor after helping lead the Tigers to a College World Series title in 2023. He joins an elite group of recent winners including Ivan Melendez (2022), Kevin Kopps (2021), 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), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008), and David Price (2007).
The 2024 Golden Spikes Award timeline is as follows:
- May 20: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, and fan voting begins
- June 3: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists fan voting ends
- June 5: Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, and fan voting begins
- June 21: Golden Spikes Award finalists fan voting ends
- June 22: Golden Spikes Award winner announced
Fan voting will again play a part in the Golden Spikes Award in 2024. Baseball fans can vote for their favorite players on GoldenSpikesAward.com, beginning today with the naming of the semifinalists. USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award on June 5, and fan voting will once again open at GoldenSpikesAward.com before closing on June 21.
To stay up to date on the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, visit GoldenSpikesAward.com and follow @USAGoldenSpikes on Instagram and Twitter/X.
A complete list of the 25-player 2024 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists is as follows:
Name; Position; School; Conference
Jamie Arnold; LHP; Florida State; ACC
Travis Bazzana; INF; Oregon State; Pac-12
Brooks Bryan; C; Troy; Sun Belt
Blake Burke; 1B; Tennessee; SEC
Chase Burns; RHP; Wake Forest; ACC
Drew Burress; OF; Georgia Tech; ACC
Jac Caglianone; LHP/1B; Florida; SEC
Charlie Condon; 1B/OF; Georgia; SEC
Lawson Harrill; OF; Campbell; CAA
Luke Holman; RHP; LSU; SEC
Vance Honeycutt; OF; UNC; ACC
Walker Janek; C; Sam Houston; C-USA
Ryan Johnson; RHP; Dallas Baptist; C-USA
Dakota Jordan; OF; Mississippi State; SEC
Josh Kuroda-Grauer; INF; Rutgers; Big Ten
Nick Kurtz; 1B; Wake Forest; ACC
Jace LaViolette; OF; Texas A&M; SEC
Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman; RHP; ECU; AAC
Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP; Texas A&M; SEC
Christian Moore; INF; Tennessee; SEC
Hagen Smith; LHP; Arkansas; SEC
James Tibbs III; OF/1B; Florida State; ACC
Payton Tolle; LHP/INF; TCU; Big 12
Blake Wright; INF; Clemson; ACC
Trey Yesavage; RHP; ECU; AAC