COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball's Tanner Houck (Collinsville, Ill.) has been named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List, announced Wednesday by USA Baseball. The Golden Spikes Award is presented annually to the top amateur baseball player in the nation in 2017. Houck becomes the first ever Mizzou Baseball player to be named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List in each of his first three seasons with the program. The 40th Golden Spikes Award will be presented in partnership with the Rod Dedeaux Foundation on June 29 in Los Angeles.
Houck's spot on the Golden Spikes Watch List comes on the heels of three first team All-America honors, a third team All-America distinction, and a second team All-SEC nod already this year. The junior righty, who is expected to be a high first-round pick in the 2017 MLB First Year Player Draft this summer, is coming off of a sophomore season during which he posted a 2.99 ERA in a career-best 105.1 innings pitched, striking out 106 while walking just 27. He limited batters to .209 hitting a year ago and was twice named SEC Pitcher of the Week, earning Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week following his start against Vanderbilt. In that start against the Commodores, Houck tossed 9.0 shutout innings, scattering just two hits while fanning a career-best 14. Both hits he allowed were infield hits as just one batted ball left the infield in the entire start.
Entering his junior season, Houck's first two seasons have been arguably the best by a Mizzou pitcher in the history of the program. He has amassed 206.0 innings and owns a career 3.23 ERA while limiting batters to just .220 hitting. He has struck out 197 batters in his career and walked just 39, good for a 5-1 strikeout-walk ratio. He has 27 more strikeouts than hits allowed in his career.
Houck will get the ball on opening day for Mizzou Baseball and first-year head coach Steve Bieser next Friday (Feb. 17) when Mizzou takes on Eastern Michigan in Fort Myers, Fla., the first of a four-game series.
Sixteen different collegiate athletic conferences are represented on the 2017 preseason watch list. The Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference lead the way with 13 representatives each, while the Pac-12 Conference has seven. Florida, Stanford and TCU lead all schools in representation with three players each. Florida State, Houston, LSU, North Carolina, Oregon State, South Carolina, UNC Wilmington, Vanderbilt and Virginia all had a pair of athletes identified on the watch list.
Starting on March 27 and ending April 2, fans will be able to nominate their favorite players for the Golden Spikes Award prior to the reveal of Midseason Watch List on April 12. The semifinalists list will be sent to a voting body consisting of past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that follow the amateur game closely, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and the 39 previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters.
Fan voting will continue to be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2017, starting on May 31 with the naming of the Golden Spikes Award semifinalists. Amateur baseball fans across the country will be able to vote for their favorite semifinalists at GoldenSpikesAward.com. On June 14, USA Baseball will announce the finalists and voting will begin that day and last until June 23.
The winner of the 40th Golden Spikes Award will be named on Thursday, June 29, at a presentation in Los Angeles. The finalists and their families will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Award Dinner that evening at Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
Last year, Mercer University outfielder Kyle Lewis took home the prestigious award, joining a group of recent winners that include Andrew Benintendi (2015), A.J. Reed (2014), Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009), Buster Posey (2008), and David Price (2007).
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