Arkansas Razorbacks’ Smith Named Finalist for Golden Spikes Award

 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas’ Hagen Smith has been named one of the three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. Smith along with Oregon State’s Travis Bazzana and Georgia’s Charlie Condon were announced as finalists, USA Baseball announced Wednesday.

Smith finished the 2024 season 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA over 84 innings to go along with single-season program record of 161 strikeouts. K/9 of 17.2 is also an all-time NCAA record (min. 50 innings), breaking the previous record set by Houston’s Ryan Wagner (16.8 in 2003).

The lefty ace is seeking to become the third Razorback to win the award after Andrew Benintendi (2015) and Kevin Kopps (2021).

However, Smith will face stiff competition from the other two top-of-the-line hitting prospects, both expected to go in the Top 5 of this year’s MLB Draft. Georgia’s Condon has a slash line of .445/.566/1.036 to go along with 36 home runs, the most in NCAA Division I baseball since 2011. With Georgia still playing in the Super Regional, he has a chance to break Ashton Larson’s all-time record of 40 homers set in 1997