Golden Spikes Award Fan Voting Page
LOS ANGELES – UCLA junior right-hander Ryan Garcia has been named a Semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, it was announced on Wednesday by USA Baseball.
Garcia is one of 25 players nationwide to be named a Semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, which honors the top amateur baseball player in the country. He becomes the seventh UCLA player all-time to be named a Semifinalist and the Bruins' ninth overall selection. UCLA has had a Semifinalist in nine separate seasons, tied with Louisville for the most in the country.
As of May 15, Garcia is 7-0 on the year with a miniscule 1.27 ERA. He's struck out 82 batters in 64 innings, an average of 11.5 per nine innings.
Despite not making his first full start of the year until Mar. 24, Garcia has put together arguably the most impressive pitching resume in the Pac-12 this season. He paces the league by fairly wide margins in both ERA and batting average against (.161) and his 66 strikeouts in conference play lead all Pac-12 pitchers.
Garcia has been named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week on three separate occasions this year, the first Bruin to accomplish that feat since Trevor Bauer in 2011.
His signature start came on Apr. 26 at Jackie Robinson Stadium, as he fired a complete game two-hit shutout while striking out a career-high 14 batters against Utah. His 14 Ks are the most by a Pac-12 pitcher in a single game so far this year and the most by a Bruin hurler since 2011. He also had eye-catching pitching lines against Arizona on Mar. 24 (one hit allowed over 7 1/3 shutout innings) and Apr. 13 against East Carolina University (three hits, 13 strikeouts in seven scoreless frames).
Overall, Garcia has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of 11 appearances this season, and has given up one or fewer earned runs in all but three outings.
Bauer won the Golden Spikes Award in 2011 after posting a 13-2 record with a 1.25 ERA. Bauer recorded 203 strikeouts compared to just 36 walks in 136.2 innings pitched.
Beginning with the announcement of semifinalists, a ballot will be sent to the Golden Spikes Award voting body consisting of national baseball media, select professional baseball personnel, previous Golden Spikes Award winners and select USA Baseball staff, totaling a group of over 200 voters. From Wednesday, May 15 through Sunday, May 26, each voting member will select three athletes from the Golden Spikes Award ballot of semifinalists and fan voting will simultaneously be open on GoldenSpikesAward.com. Selections made by the voting body will carry a 95% weight of each athlete's total, while fan votes will account for the remaining 5%.
The finalists will then be announced on Wednesday, May 29. Beginning that same day through Monday, June 10, the voting body and fans will be able to cast their final vote for the Golden Spikes Award winner.
The winner of the 42nd Golden Spikes Award will be named on Friday, June 14.
All-Time UCLA Golden Spikes Award Semifinalists
Ryan Garcia – 2019
Griffin Canning – 2017
David Berg – 2013, 2015
Jeff Gelalich – 2012
Trevor Bauer – 2010, 2011
Alden Carrithers – 2008
Brandon Crawford - 2007