Top college Draft prospects headline Golden Spikes Award semifinalists
With an eye on Omaha, the Golden Spikes Award has reached its penultimate stage.
USA Baseball announced the 25 semifinalists in its quest to identify the top amateur baseball player in the nation on Thursday. The 48th Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 29 on MLB Network at 7:30 p.m. ET.
When USA Baseball released its 45-player midseason list on April 4, it included 19 players ranked among MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Draft prospects. This time around, 18 players again land on Pipeline’s list -- which has now expanded to the Top 150. Seven of the unranked semifinalists are sophomores and therefore not Draft eligible this year.
Headlining the group of ranked prospects are five of the top 10 players in the Top 150 -- Roch Cholowsky (No. 1), Grady Emerson (No. 2), Vahn Lackey (No. 3), Jackson Flora (No. 4) and Drew Burress (No. 8).
Georgia Tech’s Burress has been named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist for the third consecutive year, becoming just the third player to accomplish the feat since Anthony Rendon (2009-11) and Brendan McKay (2015-17).
UCLA’s Cholowsky and Texas’ LHP Dylan Volantis have been named Golden Spikes Award semifinalists for the second consecutive year after being named to the list in 2025. Cholowsky and Volantis, along with eight other semifinalists, have appeared on both the preseason and midseason watch lists: Emerson, Lackey, Flora, Ryder Helfrick (No. 16 Draft prospect), Caden Sorrell (No. 25), Jarren Advincula (No. 31), Evan Dempsey (No. 91) and Jason DeCaro (No. 121). In total, 20 of the 25 semifinalists were featured on at least one watch list this season.
Last year, Orioles round one compensation pick Wehiwa Aloy (No. 31 overall) won the award after a prolific season at Arkansas in which the Orioles' No. 5 prospect earned SEC Player of the Year honors.
Fan voting is now open for this year's Golden Spikes Award -- on GoldenSpikesAward.com -- to help determine the finalists, which will be announced on June 10. Another round of fan voting will follow that announcement and run until June 28.
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 as Golden Spikes Award semifinalists, as well as where they rank on MLB Pipeline's Draft prospect list:
Jarren Advincula, INF, Georgia Tech (No. 31 Draft prospect)
Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech (No. 8 Draft prospect)
Lorenzo Carrier, OF, Pittsburgh
Roch Cholowsky, INF, UCLA (No. 1 Draft prospect)
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Tague Davis, INF, Louisville
Jason DeCaro, RHP, North Carolina (No. 121 Draft prospect)
Evan Dempsey, RHP/OF, FGCU (No. 91 Draft prospect)
Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arkansas (No. 18 Draft prospect)
Mason Edwards, LHP, Southern Cal (No. 36 Draft prospect)
Grady Emerson, INF, Fort Worth Christian (HS) (No. 2 Draft prospect)
Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara (No. 4 Draft prospect)
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Gavin Grahovac, INF, Texas A&M (No. 32 Draft prospect)
Landon Hairston, INF, Arizona State
Ryder Helfrick, C, Arkansas (No. 16 Draft prospect)
Daniel Jackson, C, Georgia (No. 55 Draft prospect)
Gavin Kelly, C/INF, West Virginia
Dee Kennedy, INF, Kansas State (No. 75 Draft prospect)
Aidan King, RHP, Florida
Vahn Lackey, C/INF, Georgia Tech (No. 3 Draft prospect)
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Kollin Ritchie, OF, Oklahoma State (No. 130 Draft prospect)
Aiden Robbins, OF, Texas (No. 26 Draft prospect)
Caden Sorrell, OF, Texas A&M (No. 25 Draft prospect)
Cade Townsend, RHP, Ole Miss (No. 21 Draft prospect)
Tomas Valincius, LHP, Mississippi State
Dylan Volantis, LHP, Texas