Golden Spikes Award

The Golden Spikes Award is bestowed annually to the best amateur baseball player in the United States.^[1] The award, created by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was first presented in 1978. It is given to an amateur player who best exhibits and combines "exceptional on-field ability and exemplary sportsmanship."^[2][3] The award is considered the most prestigious in amateur baseball.^[4][5]

Ten winners of the Golden Spikes Award are members of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame,^[6] including Bob Horner, the inaugural winner in 1978.^[7] In that same year, he was the first overall MLB draft pick and proceeded to win the Rookie of the Year Award.^[8][9][10] Seven Golden Spikes Award winners went on to become the first overall draft pick.^[8] Only Horner achieved the Rookie of the Year Award in the same year (although Jason Jennings and Buster Posey were voted the top rookies of the National League several years after winning the Golden Spikes Award).^[9] Jim Abbott, Jered Weaver and Tim Lincecum are the only award winners to pitch a no-hitter,^[11] while Horner is the only one to hit four home runs in one game.^[12] Furthermore, 16 players won the Dick Howser Trophy (considered to be the Heisman Trophy of college baseball)^[13][14] alongside the Golden Spikes Award.^[15] No player has won the award more than once.

The award has been presented annually at Studio 42 of the MLB Network since 2009.^[3][16] The most recent recipient of the award is Kyle Lewis of the Mercer University.^[17] Although it can be given to any amateur player, the award has always been given to a college baseball player. In addition, only two winners were not attending NCAA Division I institutions when they won the award—junior college players Alex Fernández in 1990 and Bryce Harper in 2010.

Winners

Bob Horner, who won the inaugural Golden Spikes Award in 1978, also received the Rookie of the Year Award and was the first overall MLB draft pick in the same year.

Jered Weaver, the 2004 recipient, is one of three award winners to pitch a no-hitter.

Tim Lincecum, the 2006 winner, received the Cy Young Award in 2008 and 2009.^[18]

Key

Year	Links to the article about the corresponding baseball year
Player	Name of the player
Position	The player's position at the time he won the award[lower-alpha 1]
School	The player's college when he won the award
Italics	Player was the first overall MLB draft pick in the same year
^	Player won the Rookie of the Year Award[lower-alpha 2]
§	Player also won the Dick Howser Trophy in the same year
	Member of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame
	Player is active[lower-alpha 3]

Winners

Year	Player	Position	School	Ref
1978	Horner, BobBob Horner^	Third baseman	Arizona State	[7]
1979	Wallach, TimTim Wallach	Third baseman	Cal State Fullerton	[7]
1980	Francona, TerryTerry Francona	First baseman	Arizona	[7]
1981	Fuentes, MikeMike Fuentes	Outfielder	Florida State	[20]
1982	Schmidt, AugieAugie Schmidt	Shortstop	New Orleans	[7]
1983	Magadan, DaveDave Magadan	Third baseman	Alabama	[7]
1984	McDowell, OddibeOddibe McDowell	Outfielder	Arizona State	[21]
1985	Clark, WillWill Clark	First baseman	Mississippi State	[7]
1986	Loynd, MikeMike Loynd	Pitcher	Florida State	[7]
1987	Abbott, JimJim Abbott	Pitcher	Michigan	[22]
1988	Ventura, RobinRobin Ventura§	Third baseman	Oklahoma State	[23]
1989	McDonald, BenBen McDonald	Pitcher	LSU	[24]
1990	Fernández, AlexAlex Fernández§	Pitcher	Miami-Dade Community College	[7]
1991	Kelly, MikeMike Kelly	Outfielder	Arizona State	[7]
1992	Nevin, PhilPhil Nevin	Third baseman	Cal State Fullerton	[7]
1993	Dreifort, DarrenDarren Dreifort	Pitcher	Wichita State	[7]
1994	Varitek, JasonJason Varitek§	Catcher	Georgia Tech	[25]
1995	Kotsay, MarkMark Kotsay	Outfielder	Cal State Fullerton	[25]
1996	Lee, TravisTravis Lee	First baseman	San Diego State	[26]
1997	Drew, J. D.J. D. Drew§	Outfielder	Florida State	[27]
1998	Burrell, PatPat Burrell	Third baseman	Miami (FL)	[28]
1999	Jennings, JasonJason Jennings§^	Pitcher	Baylor	[25]
2000	Bouknight, KipKip Bouknight	Pitcher	South Carolina	[25]
2001	Prior, MarkMark Prior§	Pitcher	Southern California	[29]
2002	Greene, KhalilKhalil Greene§	Shortstop	Clemson	[25]
2003	Weeks, RickieRickie Weeks§	Second baseman	Southern	[25]
2004	Weaver, JeredJered Weaver§	Pitcher	Long Beach State	[25]
2005	Gordon, AlexAlex Gordon§	Third baseman	Nebraska	[30]
2006	Lincecum, TimTim Lincecum	Pitcher	Washington	[31]
2007	Price, DavidDavid Price§	Pitcher	Vanderbilt	[32]
2008	Posey, BusterBuster Posey§^	Catcher	Florida State	[33]
2009	Strasburg, StephenStephen Strasburg§	Pitcher	San Diego State	[34]
2010	Harper, BryceBryce Harper^	Catcher/Outfielder	College of Southern Nevada	[35]
2011	Bauer, TrevorTrevor Bauer	Pitcher	UCLA	[36]
2012	Zunino, MikeMike Zunino§	Catcher	Florida	[3]
2013	Bryant, KrisKris Bryant§	Third baseman	San Diego	[37]
2014	Reed, A. J.A. J. Reed§	First baseman/Pitcher	Kentucky	[38]
2015	Benintendi, AndrewAndrew Benintendi§	Outfielder	Arkansas	[39]
2016	Lewis, KyleKyle Lewis	Outfielder	Mercer University	[17]

See also

• List of college baseball awards

Notes

References

General

Specific