DURHAM, N.C. -- USA Baseball unveiled on Wednesday the 25 semifinalists for the 2016 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award sponsored by Major League Baseball and presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation. 2016 marks the 39th consecutive year the Golden Spikes Award will be awarded to the top amateur baseball player in the United States.
GoldenSpikesAward.com -- powered by MLBAM -- is once again the online home of the award. The website features content devoted exclusively to the Golden Spikes Award, including news, voting history, past winner photo galleries, and photographs and biographical information for the 2016 semifinalists. Fans can follow online at GoldenSpikesAward.com as the list of 25 players is narrowed to a group of finalists on Wednesday, June 13.
The Southeastern Conference leads 12 different conferences represented on the list with seven semifinalists, followed closely by the Atlantic Coast Conference with six. The Pac-12 and Southern conferences both host a pair of semifinalists while the Big 12, Big East, Colonial Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Southland and West Coast conferences each have one athlete on the list.
Louisville sophomore Brendan McKay is a semifinalist for the second straight year and is one of two Cardinals named semifinalists in 2016. Vanderbilt was the only other school to place more than one athlete on the list. In total, 23 different NCAA institutions are represented.
The list includes several NCAA Division I statistical leaders including Southeastern Louisiana's Jameson Fisher, who leads the nation in batting average and on-base percentage. UNC Wilmington's Nick Feight leads the country in RBIs and total bases, while Kent State's Eric Lauer, Pepperdine's A.J. Puckett and Washington's Troy Rallings possess three of the nation's top four ERAs.
USA Baseball officials will announce the finalists for the 2016 Golden Spikes Award on Monday, June 13. To select the finalists, the list of semifinalists is sent to a voting body consisting of past Golden Spikes Award winners, past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that closely follow the amateur game, select professional baseball personnel, and select current USA Baseball staff, representing a group of more than 200 voters in total.
Fan voting will once again be part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2016. This announcement officially marks the opening of voting for amateur baseball fans from across the country on GoldenSpikesAward.com. As part of the selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of names. Voting will be open until Wednesday, June 8.
The live presentation of the 2016 Golden Spikes Award will be announced exclusively on ESPN's flagship program, SportsCenter, on Thursday, June 30th. The announcement will take place in ESPN's Los Angeles Production Center at L.A. Live.
The finalists and their families will be also honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Dinner that evening at the Jonathan Club Los Angeles.
Last year, University of Arkansas' Andrew Benintendi took home the prestigious award, joining a group of recent winners that includes A.J. Reed (2014), Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009) and Buster Posey (2008).
The remaining timeline for the 2016 Golden Spikes Award announcement is:
- Wednesday, June 1: 2016 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists named - voting opens
- Wednesday, June 8: Semifinalist voting closes
- Monday, June 13: 2016 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists named - voting opens
- Friday, June 24: Finalist voting closes
- Thursday, June 30: 2016 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award trophy presentation
The complete 2016 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list is as follows:
Name, Position, Class, School
- Seth Beer, OF, Fr., Clemson
- Jake Burger, 3B, So., Missouri State
- C.J. Chatham, SS, Jr., Florida Atlantic
- Zack Collins, C, Jr., Miami
- Will Craig, 1B, Jr., Wake Forest
- Brett Cumberland, C, So., California
- Nick Feight, C, So., UNC-Wilmington
- Jameson Fisher, C/IF, R-Jr., Southeastern Louisiana
- Anfernee Grier, OF, Jr., Auburn
- Thomas Hackimer, P, Sr., St. John's
- Dakota Hudson, P, Jr., Mississippi State
- Connor Jones, P, Jr., Virginia
- Eric Lauer, P, Jr., Kent State
- Kyle Lewis, OF, Jr., Mercer
- Brendan McKay, IF/P, So., Louisville
- Sheldon Neuse, 3B, Jr., Oklahoma
- AJ Puckett, P, Jr., Pepperdine
- Heath Quinn, OF, Jr., Samford
- Troy Rallings, P, Sr., Washington
- Corey Ray, OF, Jr., Louisville
- Nick Senzel, 3B, Jr., Tennessee
- Jordan Sheffield, P, R-So., Vanderbilt
- Logan Shore, P, Jr., Florida
- Boomer White, IF, Jr., Texas A&M
- Kyle Wright, P, So., Vanderbilt
