Winthrop's Riley Huge Named To 2024 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List
By Winthrop Athletics
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Winthrop senior left-handed pitcher
Riley Huge has been named to the 2024 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, the organization announced Thursday afternoon.
USA Baseball today named the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, continuing the process of identifying the best amateur baseball player in the country for the 2024 season. The list features 45 of the nation's top athletes from college and high school baseball.
Twenty-seven athletes have played their way onto the list since the announcement of the Preseason Watch List on February 9. The Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board will continue maintaining a rolling list of athletes throughout the season, allowing players to play themselves into consideration for the award before the announcement of the semifinalists on May 20.
In total, 36 different schools and 12 NCAA conferences are represented on the Midseason Watch List. In addition to Florida State and Texas A&M, five other schools placed multiple athletes on the list: Duke, East Carolina, Florida, LSU, and Tennessee. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) leads all conferences with 15 players on the list, followed closely by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with 12.
The 2024 Golden Spikes Award timeline is as follows:
- May 20: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists announced, and fan voting begins
- June 3: Golden Spikes Award semifinalists fan voting ends
- June 5: Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, and fan voting begins
- June 21: Golden Spikes Award finalists' fan voting ends
- June 22: Golden Spikes Award winner announced
Fan voting will again play a part in the Golden Spikes Award in 2024. Baseball fans can vote for their favorite players on
GoldenSpikesAward.com, beginning on May 20 with the naming of the semifinalists. USA Baseball will announce the finalists for the award on June 5, and fan voting will once again open at
GoldenSpikesAward.com before closing on June 21. To stay up to date on the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, visit
GoldenSpikesAward.com and follow @USAGoldenSpikes on
Instagram and
Twitter/X.
The Davenport, Fla. native has had a career season up to this point for the Eagles.
He has pitched 41.1 innings and struck out 81 batters and is currently 4-2 with a 3.48 ERA. Huge is second in the nation in strikeouts and ranks in the top five in the Big South in ERA, wins, innings pitched, strikeouts and hits allowed. Huge is also the first Winthrop pitcher to record 10 or more strikeouts in four of the first five starts to a season since Heath Rollins had four in his first five starts in 2006.
His best game up to this point in the season was in an 8-0 victory against Maine on Saturday, March 1. In his lone start of the week in the first game of the three-game home series with Maine (the Saturday games being a doubleheader), Huge pitched 7.2 innings, allowing only one hit and two walks while recording 20 of his 23 outs via strikeout.
His 20 strikeouts are believed to be the all-time single-game Big South record and are the most by any NCAA pitcher since 2017. He struck out the first six hitters he faced before permitting a baserunner, and of his 23 outs, he factored into 22 of the 23 comprised of 20 strikeouts and two groundouts back to the mound. With this performance, Huge broke the Winthrop single-game strikeout record previously held by Kevin Slowey (19 vs. NYIT on Apr. 12, 2003).
His 20-strikeout game vs. Maine thrust both him and the Eagles baseball program into the national spotlight and Huge earned national pitcher of the week honors by three collegiate baseball organizations: NCBWA, NCAA and Perfect Game.
This is the first time that an Eagle has won a national player of the week honors by the NCBWA since Jacob Dempsey on May 11, 2006.
About Golden Spikes Award
Since 1978, USA Baseball has honored the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award. The award, which is presented on ESPN annually, goes to the amateur baseball player who exhibits exceptional athletic ability and exemplary sportsmanship. The 2023 Golden Spikes Award winner was Dylan Crews from Louisiana State University. Winners of this prestigious award from the past 20 years include Major League Baseball All-Stars such as Adley Rutschman ('19), Andrew Benintendi ('15), Kris Bryant ('13), Mike Zunino ('12), Trevor Bauer ('11), Bryce Harper ('10), Stephen Strasburg ('09), Buster Posey ('08), David Price ('07), Tim Lincecum ('06), Alex Gordon ('05), and Jered Weaver ('04). Fans can follow the Golden Spikes Award on Instagram and Twitter @USAGoldenSpikes.
About USA Baseball
With its international headquarters located in Cary, North Carolina, USA Baseball is the national governing body for baseball in the United States and has been committed to serving, protecting, and supporting the game and its 15.6 million participants since 1978. As a member of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), its national teams have won a combined 69 gold medals in international competition. Off the diamond, the organization is dedicated to the proliferation and health of the sport through the creation and management of numerous development initiatives including BASE (Baseball Athlete Safety Education), Fun At Bat, Pitch Smart, PLAY BALL, and the Prospect Development Pipeline. Additionally, USA Baseball annually honors the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award. For more information on the organization, its national teams, and development-driven initiatives, visit the official website USABaseball.com or USABDevelops.com.