With the 2022 SEC Baseball season set to begin this upcoming Friday, February 18, the preseason accolades for the conference and its’ teams and players overall continue to roll-in ahead of the seasons first pitch. That continued on Tuesday afternoon as USA Baseball announced their preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award.
An honor awarded to the top amateur baseball player in the country, the preseason watch list contained 55 players from across the country (both college and high school), as well as 15 players from the SEC.
15 SEC Baseball players selected to 2022 Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list
An award won last season by former Arkansas closer Kevin Kopps, the 15 players selected to this years Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list are:
- 2B Robert Moore – Arkansas
- OF Cayden Wallace – Arkansas
- RHP Hunter Barco – Florida
- OF Jud Fabian – Florida
- SS Ryan Ritter – Kentucky
- INF Jacob Berry – LSU
- OF Dylan Crews – LSU
- 1B Tre’ Morgan – LSU
- RHP Landon Sims – Mississippi State
- C Logan Tanner – Mississippi State
- C Hayden Dunhurst – Ole Miss
- SS Jacob Gonzalez – Ole Miss
- OF Jordan Beck – Tennessee
- OF Enrique Bradfield Jr – Vanderbilt
- RHP Nick Maldonado – Vanderbilt
While defending national champion Mississippi State lands two players on the preseason watch list, LSU is actually the team with the most players selected as the Tigers land three on the preseason watch list, headlined by Arizona transfer Jacob Berry.
One of the top collegiate prospects in the upcoming 2022 MLB Draft, Berry is coming off an impressive 2021 season in which he slashed .352/.439/.676 with 17 home runs and 70 RBI’s with the Wildcats before transferring to Baton Rouge this offseason. In addition to Berry, two of the top hitters from the SEC a year ago in Crews and Morgan were also selected, with both expected to be among the Tigers top hitters yet again.
Other notables include three pitchers selected in Landon Sims, Nick Maldonado, and Hunter Barco, as well as two selections each from Arkansas, Florida, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt.