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Arizona State ace Trevor Williams has been mowing down the opposition with a vengeance in 2013 and now it seems he's one step closer to being rewarded with a golden pair of kicks for his extensive efforts.
Williams, a junior, was one of 60 players across the nation to be named to USA Baseball's midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List Thursday. With the numbers he's put up this season, don't be surprised if he's still on USA Baseball's list when they cut it down to 30 semifinalists on Tuesday, May 28.
After making the Golden Spikes Watch List in the preseason, Williams has gone on to lead the Sun Devils in games started (11), innings pitched (79.0), and strikeouts (55) all while sporting a 5-3 record and 3.30 ERA.
In the shocking news department, USA Baseball shunned Ryan Kellogg's gaudy numbers despite the fact that he's just one of three players in the nation with at least 10 wins and zero losses. The freshman phenom somehow didn't make the Watch List even though his ERA rests at a cool 2.21 on 73.1 innings pitched. Oh yeah, and did I mention he tossed a no-hitter this season as well?
Crimes against humanity aside, the Pac-12 still managed to get a total of nine candidates on the Watch List including Stanford RHP Mark Appel, Oregon State LHP Matt Boyd, Oregon State OF Michael Conforto, Arizona OF Johnny Field, Oregon 1B Ryon Healy, Cal C Andrew Knapp, UCLA RHP Adam Plutko and Oregon RHP Jimmie Sherfy.
Once the Watch List is cut down on May 28, the remaining semifinalists will be sent to a 200-person voting body which consists of past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers along with select members of the press and professional baseball personnel. But don't worry gang, your voice can be heard too with fan-voting beginning on the same date on GoldenSpikesAward.com. After that, the three finalists will be named on June 3 before the Golden Spikes trophy is awarded live on MLB Network on July 19.
But before any of that happens, you'd be wise to do some pre-vote scouting. And no better time to begin than this Friday at Packard Stadium when Stanford's Appel takes on Williams in a pivotal Pac-12 showdown.