2022 Legion Baseball player of year named semifinalist for Golden Spikes Award
The 2022 American Legion Baseball George W. Rulon Player of the Year is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
Brooks Bryan, a catcher for Troy University, is among 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award, presented annually to the top college baseball player in the nation.
Fan voting is available at GoldenSpikesAward.com through June 3. Finalists will be announced June 5, with fan voting open again June 5-21. The Golden Spikes Award will be presented June 22 on ESPN before Game 1 of the College World Series finals.
Bryan, who in 2022 helped lead Troy (Ala.) Post 70 to the state’s first American Legion World Series championship since 1967, leads the Trojans with 17 home runs and a .599 slugging percentage entering this week’s Sun Belt Conference tournament. He has a school record 82 RBIs this season, which is third nationally. Bryan had a 14-game RBI streak from April 13 through May 4, with 30 RBIs during that streak. Primarily a catcher, he was named first-team All-Sun Belt on Monday.
Semifinalists
The complete list of Golden Spikes Award semifinalists, with position, school and conference:
Jamie Arnold; LHP; Florida State; ACC
Travis Bazzana; INF; Oregon State; Pac-12
Brooks Bryan; C; Troy; Sun Belt
Blake Burke; 1B; Tennessee; SEC
Chase Burns; RHP; Wake Forest; ACC
Drew Burress; OF; Georgia Tech; ACC
Jac Caglianone; LHP/1B; Florida; SEC
Charlie Condon; 1B/OF; Georgia; SEC
Lawson Harrill; OF; Campbell; CAA
Luke Holman; RHP; LSU; SEC
Vance Honeycutt; OF; UNC; ACC
Walker Janek; C; Sam Houston; C-USA
Ryan Johnson; RHP; Dallas Baptist; C-USA
Dakota Jordan; OF; Mississippi State; SEC
Josh Kuroda-Grauer; INF; Rutgers; Big Ten
Nick Kurtz; 1B; Wake Forest; ACC
Jace LaViolette; OF; Texas A&M; SEC
Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman; RHP; ECU; AAC
Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP; Texas A&M; SEC
Christian Moore; INF; Tennessee; SEC
Hagen Smith; LHP; Arkansas; SEC
James Tibbs III; OF/1B; Florida State; ACC
Payton Tolle; LHP/INF; TCU; Big 12
Blake Wright; INF; Clemson; ACC
Trey Yesavage; RHP; ECU; AAC
Previous winners
Previous Golden Spikes Award winners:
1978: Bob Horner; 3B; Arizona State
1979: Tim Wallach; 3B; Cal State Fullerton
1980: Terry Francona; 1B; Arizona (played American Legion Baseball in Pennsylvania)
1981: Mike Fuentes; OF; Florida State
1982: Augie Schmidt; SS; New Orleans
1983: Dave Magadan; 3B; Alabama (played American Legion Baseball for Tampa (Fla.) Post 248; won ALWS and Player of the Year in 1981)
1984: Oddibe McDowell; OF; Arizona State
1985: Will Clark; 1B; Mississippi State (played American Legion Baseball for New Orleans Post 125)
1986: Mike Loynd; P; Florida State
1987: Jim Abbott; P; Michigan
1988: Robin Ventura; 3B; Oklahoma State
1989: Ben McDonald: P; LSU
1990: Alex Fernández; P; Miami-Dade Community College
1991: Mike Kelly; OF; Arizona State
1992: Phil Nevin; 3B; Cal State Fullerton
1993: Darren Dreifort; P; Wichita State
1994: Jason Varitek; C; Georgia Tech
1995: Mark Kotsay; OF; Cal State Fullerton
1996: Travis Lee; 1B; San Diego State
1997: J.D. Drew; OF; Florida State
1998: Pat Burrell; 3B; Miami (FL)
1999: Jason Jennings; P; Baylor
2000: Kip Bouknight; P; South Carolina
2001: Mark Prior; P; USC
2002: Khalil Greene; SS; Clemson
2003: Rickie Weeks; 2B; Southern
2004: Jered Weaver; P; Long Beach State
2005: Alex Gordon; 3B; Nebraska (played American Legion Baseball for Lincoln (Neb.) Post 3)
2006: Tim Lincecum; P; Washington
2007: David Price; P; Vanderbilt
2008: Buster Posey; C; Florida State
2009: Stephen Strasburg; P; San Diego State
2010: Bryce Harper; C/OF; College of Southern Nevada (played American Legion Baseball for Las Vegas)
2011: Trevor Bauer; P; UCLA
2012: Mike Zunino; C; Florida
2013: Kris Bryant; 3B; San Diego (played American Legion Baseball for Las Vegas)
2014: A.J. Reed; 1B/P; Kentucky (played American Legion Baseball for Terre Haute (Ind.) Post 346)
2015: Andrew Benintendi; OF; Arkansas
2016: Kyle Lewis; OF; Mercer
2017: Brendan McKay; 1B/P; Louisville (played American Legion Baseball for Blackhawk (Pa.))
2018: Andrew Vaughn; 1B; California
2019: Adley Rutschman; C; Oregon State
2020: no award
2021: Kevin Kopps; P; Arkansas
2022: Ivan Melendez; 1B; Texas
2023: Dylan Crews; OF; LSU
