The 46th annual Golden Spikes award has officially gotten three finalists to win. These three stars are Travis Bazzana from Oregon State, Charlie Condon from Georgia, and Hagen Smith from Arkansas. These players have been among the best in all of college baseball this season.
The Golden Spikes Award will be announced on June 22nd, right before the first game of the College World Series.
Charlie Condon and Hagen Smith are the two players from the SEC who are finalists for this award. They have been at the top of the SEC with the top awards that are given to the best players.
This season, Condon has a batting average of .445 with 36 home runs and 77 runs batted in. He also has an OPS of 1.602, which includes an on-base percentage of .566 and a slugging percentage of 1.036.
Not only has Condon led the Georgia Bulldogs on offense, but he has also led them to their first super regional in 16 years.
Charlie Condon has been incredible this season, but how does it compare to the last hitter to win the Golden Spikes Award?
Dylan Crews, from LSU, won the Golden Spikes a season ago. In that incredible season, Crews had a batting average of .426 with 18 home runs and 70 runs batted in. He also had an OPS of 1.280, which includes an on-base percentage of .567 and a slugging percentage of .713.
The only stat that Crews had better than Condon is on-base percentage, but it is only .001 higher. Condon is also still playing and could continue to increase his excellent numbers.
The other finalist for the award is Smith from the Arkansas Razorbacks. This season, Smith has been the best pitcher in college baseball with a 9-2 record with an earned run average of 2.04 in 84 innings pitched and has struck out 161 batters.
The Razorbacks are no longer playing after losing in the NCAA Regionals, but Smith had an incredible season. In 2021, another Razorback pitcher had an incredible season, which led to him winning the Golden Spikes award.
This pitcher was Kevin Kopps. In that special 2021 season, Kopps had a 12-1 record with an earned run average of .90 in 89.2 innings pitched and struck out 131 batters.
The difference between Kopps and Smith is that they pitched in different roles. Smith was the teams game one starting pitcher and Kopps was utilized out of the bullpen. Due to that role Kopps had, he was able to pitch in 17 more games than Smith, which resulted in more innings. Smith still had 30 more strikeouts than Kopps despite the inning difference.
Who is the most likely player to win the Golden Spikes Award?
Charlie Condon is easily the favorite to win the award. Smith has been incredible this season, but Bazzana and Condon have both been better.
Condon currently leads Bazzana in most offensive categories this season. This makes Condon the favorite to win the award.