Seth Beer Tops Golden Spikes Watch List

USA Baseball on Wednesday unveiled the 55 players on its preseason watch list for the 2017 Golden Spikes Award, which honors the country’s top amateur player.

Clemson first baseman Seth Beer, a Golden Spikes finalist as a freshman last year and Baseball America’s Freshman of the Year, leads a group of 13 Atlantic Coast Conference players on the list, joined by fellow first-team Preseason All-Americans Brendan McKay of Louisville and Pavin Smith of Virginia. The Southeastern Conference is tied with the ACC with 13 players on the list, and 16 different conferences are represented in all. Florida, Stanford and Texas Christian lead all individual teams with three players on the list apiece.

Three players from outside Division I appear on the list as well. State JC of Florida lefthander Brendon Little, a third-team Preseason All-American, is the lone junior college player, along with two high schoolers in Hunter Greene and Royce Lewis, both of whom are first-team Preseason High School All-Americans. Two junior college players have won the award in the past, most recently Bryce Harper in 2010.

Players who don’t appear on the watch list can still play their way into consideration for the Golden Spikes, thanks to what the Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board calls its “rolling list” of players. Fans will continue to be part of the process as well, as they can nominate players starting on March 27. A midseason watch list will be announced on April 12, and voting for semifinalists begins May 31. USA Baseball will announce the Golden Spikes Award finalists on June 14, and the Award will be presented June 29.

2017 Golden Spikes Award Watch List
Riley Adams, c, Jr., San Diego	Tanner Houck, rhp, Jr., Missouri
Luken Baker, 1b, So., Texas Christian	Kel Johnson, of, Jr., Georgia Tech
Elliott Barzilli, 3b, Sr., Texas Christian	Jeren Kendall, of, Jr., Vanderbilt
Tristan Beck, rhp, So., Stanford	Zach Kirtley, 2b, Jr., Saint Mary’s
Andrew Beckwith, rhp, Sr., Coastal Carolina	Alex Lange, rhp, Jr., Louisiana State
Seth Beer, 1b, So., Clemson	Royce Lewis, of, HS-Sr., JSerra Catholic High, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
Quinn Brodey, of, Jr., Stanford	Brendon Little, lhp, So., State JC of Florida
J.B. Bukauskas, rhp, Jr., North Carolina	Nick Madrigal, 2b, So., Oregon State
Jake Burger, 3b, Jr., Missouri State	Jake Mangum, of, So., Mississippi State
Dylan Busby, 3b, Jr., Florida State	Corbin Martin, rhp, Jr., Texas A&M
Griffin Canning, rhp, Jr., UCLA	Brendan McKay, lhp/1b, Jr., Louisville
Carl Chester, of, Jr., Miami	Brian Miller, of, Jr., North Carolina
Wil Crowe, rhp, Jr., South Carolina	Brian Mims, 2b, Jr., UNC Wilmington
Joe Davis, 1b, So., Houston	Glenn Otto, rhp, Jr., Rice
Joe Dunand, ss, Jr., North Carolina State	Kramer Robertson, ss, Sr., Louisiana State
Colton Eastman, rhp, So., Cal State Fullerton	Seth Romero, lhp, Jr., Houston
Alex Faedo, rhp, Jr., Florida	Jayson Rose, rhp, Jr., Utah
Stuart Fairchild, of, Jr., Wake Forest	Clarke Schmidt, rhp, Jr., South Carolina
Nick Feight, c, Jr., UNC Wilmington	J.J. Schwarz, c, Jr., Florida
Michael Gigliotti, of, Jr., Lipscomb	Colton Shaver, c/1b, Jr., Brigham Young
Luis Gonzalez, lhp/of, Jr., New Mexico	Evan Skoug, c, Jr., Texas Christian
Hunter Greene, rhp/ss, HS-Sr., Notre Dame High, Sherman Oaks, Calif.	Kevin Smith, ss, Jr., Maryland
Dalton Guthrie, ss, Jr., Florida	Pavin Smith, 1b/of, Jr., Virginia
K.J. Harrison, 1b, Jr., Oregon State	Peter Solomon, rhp, Jr., Notre Dame
Adam Haseley, lhp/of, Jr., Virginia	Trey Truitt, of, Jr., Mercer
Keston Hiura, of, Jr., UC Irvine	Taylor Walls, ss, Jr., Florida State
Colton Hock, rhp, Jr., Stanford	Evan White, 1b, Jr., Kentucky
	Kyle Wright, rhp, Jr., Vanderbilt