MLB Network announced during Tuesday’s MLB Draft Lottery that it will become the new home of USA Baseball’s Golden Spikes Award presentation starting in 2026. The network will also expand its coverage of the amateur baseball season leading up to the award announcement.
The move builds on the growing relationship between MLB, MLB Network, and USA Baseball. The network has been the exclusive home of the MLB Draft Combine since 2021 and now adds the Golden Spikes Award to its year-round awards coverage, which already includes the BBWAA Awards, MLB Awards, and MiLB Awards.
The Golden Spikes Award, given annually since 1978 to the top amateur baseball player in the nation, will get expanded visibility throughout the season on MLB Network. Arkansas’ Wehiwa Aloy won the award this year, joining a list of past winners that includes Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Kris Bryant, and Adley Rutschman.
Past winners have found serious success in the majors. Of the 47 previous Golden Spikes winners, 40 went in the first round of the MLB Draft, including each of the last three. Three have won the Cy Young Award, six earned Rookie of the Year honors, three were named MVP, and 11 won a World Series championship as a player or manager. Twenty-three previous winners have been named to at least one All-Star Game as a player or manager, combining for 64 total selections.
“MLB Network is committed to producing meaningful content year after year, focused on the next generation of stars,” said Marc Caiafa, MLB Network SVP of Production. “The Golden Spikes Award is the most prestigious amateur baseball award in the nation, so there is no better place for it to be announced than MLB Network.”
Details about the award presentation and the whole selection process will be announced later.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.