May 28, 2009
ATLANTA – USA Baseball announced the names of the semifinalists for the 2009 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award (GSA), and Tech sophomore Deck McGuire is among 30 players from around the nation to make the list. This year will mark the 32nd consecutive year that the award has been presented to the nation’s premier amateur baseball player.
This year also marks the second-straight season that GoldenSpikesAward.com – powered by MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball – will be the online home for the award. The Web site features content devoted exclusively to the GSA, including news, voting history, past-winner photo galleries, and photographs and video highlights for the 2009 semifinalists. Fans can follow online at GoldenSpikesAward.com as the list of 30 players is narrowed to five finalists on Tuesday, June 2, en route to the announcement of this year’s winner on Tuesday, July 14.
The 2009 GSA will be awarded live at MLB’s All-Star FanFest in St. Louis as part of a production by Major League Baseball and MLBAM. Online footage of the event will be found shortly thereafter, exclusively at GoldenSpikesAward.com and MLB.com.
Joining McGuire on this year’s semifinalist list are fellow ACC standouts Dustin Ackley (North Carolina), Kyle Bellamy (Miami), Tony Sanchez (Boston College) and Alex White (North Carolina), while Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State), Mike Leake (Arizona State), Eric Arnett (Indiana) and A.J. Morris of Kansas State, all finalists (along with McGuire) for this year’s National Pitcher of the Year honor, were also named to the list.
In total, 25 colleges and universities are represented on the 2009 semifinalist list. Among conferences, the Atlantic Coast Conference is tops with five players on the list, and the Big XII has four.
In 2007, USA Baseball instituted a new selection and balloting procedure for the most prestigious award in amateur baseball, and it will follow the same model again in 2009. After accepting nominations from sports information directors across the country, a committee voted to determine the 30 semifinalists. The names of the 30 semifinalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the five finalists and the eventual 2009 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award winner.
“USA Baseball is proud to recognize the 30 semifinalists and their respective baseball programs for the 2009 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “With 25 schools and 14 conferences represented, it is clear that the level of competition within college baseball and for the Golden Spikes Award is as high as ever.”
