
CARY, N.C. – Wehiwa Aloy (Arkansas), Liam Doyle (Tennessee), and Alex Lodise (Florida State) were named finalists for the 2025 Golden Spikes Award presented by Chinook Seedery today by USA Baseball. This year marks the 47th edition of the Golden Spikes Award, which annually honors the top amateur baseball player in the nation who best exhibits exceptional on-field ability and exemplary sportsmanship.
The 47th Golden Spikes Award will be presented on June 21 on ESPN at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT prior to first pitch of Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series finals.
“It is a tremendous honor to name Wehiwa, Liam, and Alex as finalists for this year’s Golden Spikes Award,” said USA Baseball CEO/Executive Director Paul Seiler. “By every measure, these three student-athletes exemplify the best of the best of amateur baseball and are extremely deserving of this honor. We are looking forward to naming our forty-seventh winner of the Golden Spikes Award and adding another great player to the storied history of this award.”
Arkansas’ Wehiwa Aloy, whose first name means “The Prized One,” has been one of college baseball’s most electrifying all-around players in 2025. Through 59 games this season, the Wailuku, Hawaii, native is slashing a team-leading .355/.440/.686 with 20 home runs, fourth most in program history, and 64 RBIs. The junior shortstop, who has started every game, is well on his way to turning in one of the best offensive seasons in program history. He is currently leading the Razorbacks in nearly every major category, including batting average, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging (1.126), runs scored (77), hits (86), doubles (18), home runs, extra-base hits (39), and extra bases (166). Aloy, a two-time SEC Player of the Week, a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award and a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, has also dazzled defensively with just five errors in 205 total chances (.976 fielding percentage). Recently named the SEC Player of the Year, Aloy is the third finalist in five years from the Razorbacks’ program, and he would be the third winner in program history behind Andrew Benintendi (2015) and Kevin Kopps (2021).
Tennessee ace Liam Doyle is having an All-American caliber junior season for the Vols and has arguably been the most dominant starting pitcher in the country this year. For the season, Doyle boasts a 10-3 record and a 2.84 ERA in 18 appearances while leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings (15.46) and total strikeouts (158), which is a UT single-season record. He has reached double-digit strikeouts eight times this season, including four such games in SEC play. Doyle’s 10 victories are tied for first in the SEC and ninth nationally. The junior left-hander was nearly unhittable in the month of April, posting a 3-0 record with a 1.29 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 28 innings pitched over four starts while holding opposing hitters to a .087 average. He was named the SEC Pitcher of the Week on three separate occasions throughout the season, marking the first time a UT pitcher has done so. His first two honors came March 10 and April 7 after helping the Vols throw combined no-hitters both times, and his most recent honor was on April 11 when he tossed a career-high 8.1 innings and an SEC career-best 14 strikeouts to earn the win in a hostile environment at then-No. 6 Ole Miss. The 2025 SEC Pitcher of the Year and a Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist, Doyle is the fourth player from Tennessee to be named a Golden Spikes Award finalist, as Luke Hochevar (2005) was the last Vol to earn the honor. Doyle would make program history as the first Golden Spikes Award winner.
Florida State junior shortstop Alex Lodise is one of the nation’s most prolific hitters and best defenders in a breakout 2025 campaign while leading the Seminoles to a top 10 national ranking. The midseason National Player of the Year and the country’s No. 1-ranked shortstop late in the season, as well as a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award and a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, Lodise is 10th nationally in hits (92), 11th in batting average (.405), and 12th in total bases (167). He also ranks among the best nationally in slugging percentage (.736), RBIs (67), and home runs (17), and has at least one hit in 46 of 55 games played, including 30 multi-hit games. Lodise is believed to be the first player in major college or professional baseball history to complete the cycle with a walk-off grand slam on March 25 versus Florida, one of his seven game-winning hits in 2025. A team captain, Lodise spends time away from baseball volunteering at a local middle school where he builds relationships with students, helps them with homework, and plays games during recess. He also was selected as a member of FSU’s CGS Leadership Academy. Lodise, who collected ACC Player and Defensive Player of the Year honors last month, is the 11th Golden Spikes Award finalist in program history. He is the first Seminole player to earn the honor since Buster Posey in 2008, who ultimately won the award that year, and would be the fifth player in program history to be named a winner.
All three players helped their respective programs advance to a NCAA Super Regional over the weekend. Aloy went 4-for-10 in the NCAA Arkansas Regional, which was highlighted by a two-homer outing with five RBIs on May 31 versus Creighton. Doyle’s weekend featured a win and a save while tossing a combined 9.0 innings across two appearances. He fanned 16 batters and surrendered one earned run in the NCAA Knoxville Regional. Lodise tallied a pair of hits, RBIs, and runs in the final two games of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
This year marks the fifth time since 2018 that the SEC has featured multiple Golden Spikes Award finalists. Overall, the SEC boasts 11 Golden Spikes Award winners, the most of any conference in the nation. The Atlantic Coast Conference has a finalist for the second time in four seasons (Kevin Parada in 2022) and is looking for its sixth all-time Golden Spikes Award winner.
Georgia’s Charlie Condon is the most recent winner of the Golden Spikes Award, earning the prestigious honor after a record-setting season in 2024. He joins an elite group of recent winners including Dylan Crews (2023), Ivan Melendez (2022), Kevin Kopps (2021), Adley Rutschman (2019), Andrew Vaughn (2018), Brendan McKay (2017), Kyle Lewis (2016), 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).
The 2025 Golden Spikes Award timeline is as follows:
- June 4: Golden Spikes Award finalists announced, and fan voting begins
- June 20: Golden Spikes Award finalists fan voting ends
- June 21: Golden Spikes Award winner announced
Historically, Golden Spikes Award winners have gone on to have tremendous success in the Major Leagues. Of the 46 previous winners, six have earned Rookie of the Year honors, including Lewis in 2020. Additionally, three have won the Cy Young Award, three were named MVP, and 11 have won a World Series championship as a player or manager, combining for 18 championships. Twenty-three previous winners have also been named to at least one All-Star Game roster as a player or manager, combining for 64 total selections.
A final ballot will be sent to the Golden Spikes Award voting body consisting of national baseball media, select professional baseball personnel and USA Baseball staff, and the previous winners of the award, totaling a group of more than 100 voters. From Wednesday, June 4, to Thursday, June 12, the voting body will cast their final vote for the Golden Spikes Award winner and fan voting will simultaneously be open on GoldenSpikesAward.com.
To stay up to date on the 2025 Golden Spikes Award, visit GoldenSpikesAward.com and follow @USAGoldenSpikes on Instagram and Twitter/X.
Golden Spikes Award Winners:
- 2024: Charlie Condon - Georgia
- 2023: Dylan Crews - LSU
- 2022: Ivan Melendez - Texas
- 2021: Kevin Kopps - Arkansas
- 2019: Adley Rutschman - Oregon State
- 2018: Andrew Vaughn - California
- 2017: Brendan McKay - Louisville
- 2016: Kyle Lewis - Mercer
- 2015: Andrew Benintendi - Arkansas
- 2014: A.J. Reed - Kentucky
- 2013: Kris Bryant - San Diego
- 2012: Mike Zunino - Florida
- 2011: Trevor Bauer - UCLA
- 2010: Bryce Harper - Southern Nevada
- 2009: Stephen Strasburg - San Diego State
- 2008: Buster Posey - Florida State
- 2007: David Price - Vanderbilt
- 2006: Tim Lincecum - Washington
- 2005: Alex Gordon - Nebraska
- 2004: Jered Weaver - Long Beach State
- 2003: Rickie Weeks - Southern
- 2002: Khalil Greene - Clemson
- 2001: Mark Prior - Southern California
- 2000: Kip Bouknight - South Carolina
- 1999: Jason Jennings - Baylor
- 1998: Pat Burrell - Miami
- 1997: J.D. Drew - Florida State
- 1996: Travis Lee - San Diego State
- 1995: Mark Kotsay - Cal State Fullerton
- 1994: Jason Varitek - Georgia Tech
- 1993: Darren Dreifort - Wichita State
- 1992: Phil Nevin - Cal State Fullerton
- 1991: Mike Kelly - Arizona State
- 1990: Alex Fernandez - Miami Dade CC
- 1989: Ben McDonald - LSU
- 1988: Robin Ventura - Oklahoma State
- 1987: Jim Abbott - Michigan
- 1986: Mike Loynd - Florida State
- 1985: Will Clark - Mississippi State
- 1984: Oddibe McDowell - Arizona State
- 1983: Dave Magadan - Alabama
- 1982: Augie Schmidt - New Orleans
- 1981: Mike Fuentes - Florida State
- 1980: Terry Francona - Arizona
- 1979: Tim Wallach - Cal State Fullerton
- 1978: Bob Horner - Arizona State