Brendan McKay, J.B. Bukauskas Headline Golden Spikes Watch List

Name, Year, Position, School
Tyler Adkinson, Jr., OF, San Diego State	Blaine Knight, So., P, Arkansas
Joey Bart, So., C, Georgia Tech	Gunner Leger, Jr., P, Louisiana Lafayette
J.B. Bukauskas, Jr., P, North Carolina	Nick Madrigal, So., IF, Oregon State
Jake Burger, Jr., IF, Missouri St.	J.J. Matijevic, Jr., IF, Arizona
Griffin Canning, Jr., P, UCLA	Brendan McKay, Jr., IF/P, Louisville
Morgan Cooper, Jr., P, Texas	Kevin Merrell, Jr., IF/OF, South Florida
Alex Cunningham, Sr., P, Coastal Carolina	Casey Mize, So., P, Auburn
Greg Deichmann, Jr., OF, LSU	Eli Morgan, Jr., P, Gonzaga
Alex Faedo, Jr., P, Florida	David Peterson, Jr., P, Oregon
Ben Fisher, Sr., IF, Eastern Kentucky	Jared Poche, Sr., P, LSU
Steven Gingery, So., P, Texas Tech	Brent Rooker, Jr., OF, Mississippi State
Dre Gleason, Sr., IF, Austin Peay	Jake Scheiner, Jr., IF, Houston
Adam Haseley, Jr., OF/P, Virginia	Clarke Schmidt, Jr., P, South Carolina
Luke Heimlich, Jr., P, Oregon State	JP Sears, Jr., P, Citadel
Keston Hiura, Jr., IF/OF, UC Irvine	Danny Sexton, Jr., LHP, Wright State
Tyler Holton, So., P, Florida State	Brian Shaffer, Jr., P, Maryland
Tanner Houck, Jr., P, Missouri	Pavin Smith, Jr., IF/OF, Virginia
Marshall Kasowski, Jr., P, West Texas A&M	Keegan Thompson, Jr., P, Auburn
Jeren Kendall, Jr., OF, Vanderbilt	Logan Warmoth, Jr., IF, North Carolina
Nolan Kingham, So., RHP, Texas	Evan White, Jr., IF, Kentucky

Louisville two-way star Brendan McKay and North Carolina fireballer J.B. Bukauskas headline the 40-player midseason Golden Spikes Award watchlist unveiled Wednesday by USA Baseball.

The award will be presented on June 29 in Los Angeles.

The list is a rolling one, allowing the Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board to add and subtract before semifinalists are named on May 31.

Auburn, LSU, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas and Virginia each landed two athletes on the midseason watch list.

“The 2017 Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list highlights the depth of elite amateur talent across the entire country,” USA Baseball CEO and executive director Paul Seiler said in a statement. “These 40 athletes have performed at an elevated level and deserve to be honored at this point of their baseball seasons.”

McKay ranks second on the Top 100 Draft Prospects list, and Bukauskas ranks third. McKay was a semifinalist in both 2015 and ’16. Also named to the midseason watch list for the second straight year were Jake Burger (junior, if, Missouri State), Adam Haseley (junior, lhp/of, Virginia), Keston Hiura (junior, if/of, UC Irvine), Jeren Kendall (junior, of, Vanderbilt) and Clarke Schmidt (junior, rhp, South Carolina).

Kyle Lewis, the College Player of the Year last season, was the Golden Spikes winner in 2016.

Once semifinalists are identified, fans can vote online at GoldenSpikesAward.com from May 31-June 9. On 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 June 23.