LOS ANGELES — USA Baseball announced Tuesday the selection of Arkansas’ Andrew Benintendi as the recipient of the 2015 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award. In the prestigious award’s 38th year recognizing the top amateur baseball player in the country, it was presented live on ESPN’s SportsCenter by 1989 Golden Spikes Award winner and current college baseball analyst, Ben McDonald.
The other three finalists for this year’s award also hailed from the Southeastern Conference, including shortstop Alex Bregman of Louisiana State, right-handed pitcher Carson Fulmer of Vanderbilt, and shortstop Dansby Swanson of Vanderbilt. All four finalists were chosen within the top eight selections of the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Benintendi was selected with the 7th overall pick by the Boston Red Sox, while Bregman was selected No. 2 by the Houston Astros, Fulmer was drafted No. 8 by the Chicago White Sox, and Swanson was selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Andrew Benintendi, Alex Bregman, Carson Fulmer, and Dansby Swanson represent everything we know and love about amateur baseball,” said USA Baseball’s executive director/CEO, Paul Seiler. “These four finalists are excellent ambassadors for the game and have represented their universities exceptionally well on and off the field. Ultimately, Andrew’s season stood out above many deserving candidates, and we are honored to present him with the Golden Spikes Award this year.”
Benintendi is the first player from Arkansas to win the Golden Spikes Award. The Cincinnati native led the Razorback’s offense all season long providing power at the plate and speed on the base paths. Benintendi finished his breakout season hitting .376 and ranked third in the nation in slugging percentage (.717). He currently leads the country in home runs and is the only college baseball player to record 20 home runs and 20-plus stolen bases this year. In the clean-up spot, he generated 85 hits, 57 RBIs and places third in total bases (162) among college baseball’s best.
Benintendi is the seventh outfielder in Golden Spikes Award history to win the award, and the first since J.D. Drew in 1997. The first outfielder to earn the honors was baseball legend, Terry Francona in 1980.
Following the live presentation of the Golden Spikes Award on SportsCenter, the finalists will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation dinner, hosted at the Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles. In addition to the Golden Spikes Award finalists being honored, Andy Stankiewicz will be recognized as the recipient of the Rod Dedeaux USA Baseball Coach of the Year Award.
To select the GSA recipient, the list of finalists was sent to a voting body consisting of past Golden Spikes Award winners, past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of media that closely follow the amateur game, select professional baseball personnel, and current USA Baseball staff, representing a group of more than 200 voters in total.
For the eighth consecutive year, fans were also able to get involved with the award voting by visiting GoldenSpikesAward.com. The website features content devoted exclusively to the GSA, including news, voting history, past-winner photo galleries and photographs and video highlights of the 2015 finalists.
