April 12, 2017
DURHAM, N.C. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Auburn pitching duo of Casey Mize and Keegan Thompson have both been named to the 2017 Golden Spikes Award watch list USA Baseball announced Wednesday.
Mize leads the SEC with 75 strikeouts this season and holds a 5-1 record and 1.37 ERA that ranks fourth in the league. He has tied his career high with 12 strikeouts in back-to-back starts, a first for an Auburn pitcher since 1999 (Chris Bootcheck).
Thompson has returned from a redshirt season in 2016 and is 4-1 on the year with a 1.27 ERA, the second best ERA in the SEC. He has 32 strikeouts and only eight walks in 42.2 innings in 2017.
The Cullman, Ala. native was previously named to the Golden Spikes watch list in 2015.
Auburn is one of six school nationally that landed two athletes on the midseason watch list joined by LSU, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas and Virginia.
USA Baseball released its 40-player midseason Golden Spikes Award watch list on Wednesday, moving closer to naming the top amateur baseball player in the country. Presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation, the 40th Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 29 in Los Angeles.
The midseason watch list features 40 of the nation's top amateur players from the college ranks. 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 31.
The Southeastern Conference leads all conferences in players on the midseason watch list with 11, while seven players represent the Atlantic Coast Conference and five athletes represent the Pac-12 Conference. In total, 16 different NCAA conferences have at least one athlete on the list, including one from the Lone Star Conference in NCAA Division II.
"The 2017 Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list highlights the depth of elite amateur talent across the entire country," said Paul Seiler, Executive Director and CEO at USA Baseball. "These forty athletes have performed at an elevated level and deserve to be honored at this point of their baseball seasons. We look forward to watching the rest of the amateur baseball schedule and announcing the semifinalists for this prestigious award in May."
On Wednesday, May 31, USA Baseball will announce the semifinalists for the 2017 Golden Spikes Award. The list of semifinalists will be sent to a voting body consisting of past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that follow amateur baseball closely, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and the 39 previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters.
Amateur baseball fans across the country will be able to vote for their favorite semifinalists at GoldenSpikesAward.com from May 31-June 9. On Wednesday, June 14, USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award, and fan voting will once again commence that same day. Fan voting for the finalists will end on Friday, June 23.
The 2017 Golden Spikes Award winner will be named on Thursday, June 29, at a presentation in Los Angeles. The finalists and their families will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Award Dinner that evening at Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
GoldenSpikesAward.com, created in 2008 and powered by MLB Advanced Media, is the online home of the award. The web site features content devoted exclusively to the Golden Spikes Award, including news, a weekly player spotlight, voting history and past winner photo galleries.