DURHAM, N.C. – LSU junior outfielder Greg Deichmann and senior left-handed pitcher Jared Poche’ have been named to the 40-player midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, presented annually by USA Baseball to the top amateur player in the country.
Presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation, the 40th Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 29 in Los Angeles.
The midseason watch list features 40 of the nation’s top amateur players from the college ranks. The Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board will continue to maintain a rolling list of athletes, allowing players to play themselves into consideration for the award before announcing the semifinalists on May 31.
The Southeastern Conference leads all conferences in players on the midseason watch list with 11, while seven players represent the Atlantic Coast Conference and five athletes represent the Pac-12 Conference. In total, 16 different NCAA conferences have at least one athlete on the list, including one from the Lone Star Conference in NCAA Division II.
Auburn, LSU, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas and Virginia each landed two athletes on the midseason watch list.
Deichmann, a product of Metairie, La., is batting .341 (43-foro-126) this season with eight doubles, 10 homers and 37 RBI. He is second in the SEC homers and third in the league in RBI.
Deichmann is batting .476 (10-for-21) in LSU’s last five games with one double, one homer and five RBI.
Poche’, a native of Lutcher, La., leads the SEC this season with six wins, and he is No. 10 in the league in ERA (2.32). He has worked 50.1 innings this season, recording 12 walks and 33 strikeouts while limiting opponents to a .211 batting average.
Poche’ fired a seven-inning no-hitter against Army on February 18, marking the first no-hitter by an LSU pitcher since 1979.
On Wednesday, May 31, USA Baseball will announce the semifinalists for the 2017 Golden Spikes Award. The list of semifinalists will be sent to a voting body consisting of past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that follow amateur baseball closely, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and the 39 previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters.
Amateur baseball fans across the country will be able to vote for their favorite semifinalists at GoldenSpikesAward.com from May 31-June 9. On Wednesday, 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 Friday, June 23.
The 2017 Golden Spikes Award winner will be named on Thursday, June 29, at a presentation in Los Angeles. The finalists and their families will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Award Dinner that evening at Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
The anticipated timeline for the 2017 Golden Spikes Award announcements is as follows:
Wednesday, May 31: 2017 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, voting begins
Friday, June 9: 2017 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalist voting ends
Wednesday, June 14: 2017 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, voting begins
Friday, June 23: 2017 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award finalists voting ends
Thursday, June 29: 2017 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award trophy presentation
A complete list of the 40-player USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list is as follows:
Name, Year, Position, School
Tyler Adkinson, Jr., OF, San Diego State
Joey Bart, So., C, Georgia Tech
J.B. Bukauskas, Jr., P, North Carolina
Jake Burger, Jr., IF, Missouri St.
Griffin Canning, Jr., P, UCLA
Morgan Cooper, Jr., P, Texas
Alex Cunningham, Sr., P, Coastal Carolina
Greg Deichmann, Jr., OF, LSU
Alex Faedo, Jr., P, Florida
Ben Fisher, Sr., IF, Eastern Kentucky
Steven Gingery, So., P, Texas Tech
Dre Gleason, Sr., IF, Austin Peay
Adam Haseley, Jr., OF/P, Virginia
Luke Heimlich, Jr., P, Oregon State
Keston Hiura, Jr., IF/OF, UC Irvine
Tyler Holton, So., P, Florida State
Tanner Houck, Jr., P, Missouri
Marshall Kasowski, Jr., P, West Texas A&M
Jeren Kendall, Jr., OF, Vanderbilt
Nolan Kingham, So., RHP, Texas
Blaine Knight, So., P, Arkansas
Gunner Leger, Jr., P, Louisiana Lafayette
Nick Madrigal, So., IF, Oregon State
J.J. Matijevic, Jr., IF, Arizona
Brendan McKay, Jr., IF/P, Louisville
Kevin Merrell, Jr., IF/OF, South Florida
Casey Mize, So., P, Auburn
Eli Morgan, Jr., P, Gonzaga
David Peterson, Jr., P, Oregon
Jared Poche, Sr., P, LSU
Brent Rooker, Jr., OF, Mississippi State
Jake Scheiner, Jr., IF, Houston
Clarke Schmidt, Jr., P, South Carolina
JP Sears, Jr., P, Citadel
Danny Sexton, Jr., LHP, Wright State
Brian Shaffer, Jr., P, Maryland
Pavin Smith, Jr., IF/OF, Virginia
Keegan Thompson, Jr., P, Auburn
Logan Warmoth, Jr., IF, North Carolina
Evan White, Jr., IF, Kentucky