Golden Spikes midseason watch list loaded with top Draft prospects
On Thursday, the amateur baseball world took another step toward finding the 2026 Golden Spikes Award winner as USA Baseball announced the award’s Midseason Watch List.
As usual, MLB Pipeline's top Draft prospects are heavily represented. In all, 19 of the 45 players are on the Draft Top 100 -- including each of the top three prospects and nine of the top 20.
There are 12 sophomores on the list, who aren't eligible to be drafted this July so are omitted from the Draft rankings. Grady Emerson is the lone high school senior on this list. He also appeared on the Preseason Watch List and is ranked second on MLB Pipeline's Draft list. Emerson aims to become the first high school player to ever claim the Golden Spikes Award. (Alex Fernandez in 1990 and Bryce Harper in 2010 mark the two instances of a junior college player winning the award.)
There are 19 players who return to the list from the Preseason Watch List that was released on Feb. 6. There are also 26 new names that played their way onto this one.
Trey Beard (Florida State), Roch Cholowsky (UCLA), Justin Lebron (Alabama) and Wes Mendes (Florida State) all appear on the Midseason Watch List for the second consecutive year. Cholowsky, Lebron, Daniel Cuvet (Miami) and Dylan Volantis (Texas) are making a third consecutive Golden Spikes Award list appearance after appearing on last year’s semifinalist list.
The rollout of future Golden Spikes Award lists is as follows:
- Semifinalists -- May 14
- Finalists -- June 10
- Winner -- June 29
Fans can once again help determine who wins the award this year. After the semifinalists are named in May, they’ll be able to vote for their favorite players on GoldenSpikesAward.com to help determine the finalists and winner.
The Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced on June 29 during a presentation on MLB Network.
Here is the full list of players named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list, as well as where they rank on MLB Pipeline's Draft prospect list:
Jarren Advincula, INF, Georgia Tech (No. 35 Draft prospect)
Myles Bailey, INF, Florida State (No. 95 Draft prospect)
Trey Beard, LHP, Florida State (No. 64 Draft prospect)
Tristan Bissetta, OF, Ole Miss
Ben Blair, RHP, Liberty
Jake Brown, OF, LSU (No. 54 Draft prospect)
Lorenzo Carrier, OF, Pittsburgh
Roch Cholowsky, INF, UCLA (No. 1 Draft prospect)
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Quinton Coats, INF, Cincinnati
Daniel Cuvet, INF, Miami (No. 67 Draft prospect)
Tague Davis, INF, Louisville
Jason DeCaro, RHP, North Carolina (No. 87 Draft prospect)
Evan Dempsey, RHP/OF, FGCU
Mason Edwards, LHP, Southern Cal (No. 88 Draft prospect)
Grady Emerson, INF, Fort Worth Christian (HS) (No. 2 Draft prospect)
Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara (No. 14 Draft prospect)
Henry Ford, INF/OF, Tennessee (No. 58 Draft prospect)
Will Gasparino, OF, UCLA
Grant Govel, RHP, Southern Cal
AJ Gracia, OF, Virginia (No. 15 Draft prospect)
Landon Hairston, INF, Arizona State
Ryder Helfrick, C, Arkansas (No. 29 Draft prospect)
Daniel Jackson, C/OF, Georgia
Dee Kennedy, INF, Kansas State
Vahn Lackey, C/INF, Georgia Tech (No. 12 Draft prospect)
Brendan Lawson, INF, Florida
Justin Lebron, INF, Alabama (No. 3 Draft prospect)
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Chris Levonas, RHP, Wake Forest
Mulivai Levu, INF, UCLA (No. 94 Draft prospect)
Jake Marciano, LHP, Auburn
Wes Mendes, LHP, Florida State
LJ Mercurius, RHP, Oklahoma
Tre Phelps, INF/OF, Georgia
Jack Radel, RHP, Notre Dame
Logan Reddemann, RHP, UCLA
Ace Reese, INF, Mississippi State (No. 18 Draft prospect)
Ruger Riojas, RHP, Texas
Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas
Drew Smith, INF/OF, Oregon
Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas A&M (No. 20 Draft prospect)
Sawyer Strosnider, OF, TCU (No. 10 Draft prospect)
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Tomas Valincius, LHP, Mississippi State
Dylan Volantis, LHP, Texas
Dax Whitney, RHP, Oregon State
Derek Williams, OF, Miami