Golden Spikes Watch List: See The 55-Player Preseason List For 2025

Image credit: (Photo by Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images)

USA Baseball on Friday afternoon announced its preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given annually to the top amateur in the nation.

The 55-player watch list is comprised of college and high school players and it should be noted that individuals who were not included can play their way into consideration throughout the season. Only two non-Division I players—Alex Fernandez (1990) and Bryce Harper (2010)— have won the Golden Spikes Award.

This year’ watch list is brimming with talent as 27 of Baseball America’s Preseason College All-American’s made the cut, including 10-of-14 members of the first-team. BA last month also identified 10 players—Florida State lefty Jamie Arnold, Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette, UC Santa Barbara righty Tyler Bremner, Clemson center fielder Cam Cannarella, Arkansas righty Gabe Gaeckle, Virginia righty fielder Henry Ford, Texas A&M outfielder Jace LaViolette, Oklahoma State outfielder Nolan Schubart, North Carolina catcher Luke Stevenson and Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor—as frontrunners for Preseason Player of the Year honors. All were included in Friday’s watch list.

The SEC was unsurprisingly the best-represented conference on the preseason watch list with 17 players followed by the ACC (14) and Big 12 (six), which also mirrors BA’s projected NCAA Tournament bid distribution of 13 SEC teams, 10 ACC teams and seven from the Big 12.

Arizona State, Texas A&M and Virginia lead all teams nationally with three Golden Spikes watch list members while Arkansas, Duke, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Texas, and Wake Forest each had two.

USA Baseball is set to announce the midyear watch list for the Golden Spikes away on April 3 with a semifinalist announcement following shortly thereafter on May 18. A fan vote will then help to determine the finalists and winner, who will be announced in late June in conjunction with the end of the amateur baseball season.

Here is the complete Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list:

Name – School – Year – Position – Conference
Ben Abeldt – TCU – JR – LHP – Big 12
Wehiwa Aloy – Arkansas – JR – SS – SEC
Jamie Arnold – Florida State – JR – LHP – ACC
Aiva Arquette – Oregon State – JR – SS – Pac 12
RJ Austin – Vanderbilt – JR – UTL – SEC
Max Belyeu – Texas – JR – OF – SEC
Evan Blanco – Virginia – JR – LHP – ACC
Caden Bodine – Coastal Carolina – JR – C – Sun Belt
Tyler Bremner – UC Santa Barbara – JR – RHP – Big West
Brooks Bryan – Troy – JR – C – Sun Belt
Drew Burress – Georgia Tech – SO – OF – ACC
Easton Carmichael – Oklahoma – JR – C – SEC
Eric Colaco – Denison (DIII) – SR – OF – NCAC
Brandon Compton – Arizona State – R-SO – OF – Big 12
Cam Cannarella – Clemson – JR – OF – ACC
Ethan Conrad – Wake Forest -JR – OF – ACC
Kayson Cunningham – Johnson HS (TX) – SR – SS
Dean Curley – Tennessee – SO – SS – SEC
Daniel Cuvet – Miami – SO – 3B – ACC
Jason DeCaro – North Carolina – SO – RHP – ACC
Harrison Didawick – Virginia – JR – OF – ACC
Nick Dumesnil – Cal Baptist – JR – OF – WAC
Jalin Flores – Texas – JR – INF – SEC
Henry Ford – Virginia – SO – 1B – ACC
Gabe Gaeckle – Arkansas – SO – RHP – SEC
AJ Gracia – Duke – SO – OF – ACC
Gavin Grahovac – Texas A&M – SO – UTL – SEC
Grayson Grinsell – Oregon – JR – LHP – Big Ten
Seth Hernandez – Corona HS (CA) – SR – RHP/INF
Ethan Holliday – Stillwater HS (OK) – SR – INF
Marek Houston – Wake Forest – JR – SS – ACC
Ike Irish – Auburn – JR – C – SEC
Ben Jacobs – Arizona State – JR – LHP – Big 12
Kyle Johnson – Duke – SO – UTL – ACC
Jared Jones – LSU – JR – 1B – SEC
Alex Lane – Northeastern – GR – 1B/OF – CAA
Jace LaViolette – Texas A&M – JR – OF – SEC
Justin Lebron – Alabama – SO – SS – SEC
Anthony Martinez – UC Irvine – JR – 1B – Big West
Mason McConnaughey – Nebraska – JR – RHP – Big Ten
Ethan Petry – South Carolina – JR – OF – SEC
Tre Phelps – Georgia – SO – INF – SEC
Dennis Pierce – East Stroudsburg (DII) – S-SR – UTL – PSAC
Ryan Prager – Texas A&M – R-JR – LHP – SEC
Zion Rose – Louisville – SO – OF – ACC
Nolan Schubart – Oklahoma State – JR – OF – Big 12
Austin Smith – San Diego – SR – LHP/OF/DH – West Coast
Kolten Smith – Georgia – JR – RHP – SEC
Luke Stevenson – North Carolina – SO – C – ACC
Brendan Summerhill – Arizona – JR – OF – Big 12
Devin Taylor – Indiana – JR – OF – Big Ten
Tanner Thach – UNCW – JR – 1B – CAA
Gavin Turley – Oregon State – JR – OF – Pac 12
Kyle Walker – Arizona State – R-JR – 2B – Big 12
Kyson Witherspoon – Oklahoma – JR – RHP – SEC