Georgia Tech freshman Drew Burress named finalist for Golden Spikes Award
CARY, N.C. – Georgia Tech freshman outfielder Drew Burress continues to rack up honors, getting named a semifinalist for the 2024 Golden Spikes Award, it was announced this week.
Burress joins 25 student-athletes from 20 institutions as a semifinalist, is one of seven from the Atlantic Coast Conference and is the only freshman on the prestigious list. The Golden Spikes Award honors the top amateur baseball player in the country.
Already a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the ACC Freshman of the Year, Burress leads Georgia Tech into this week’s ACC Baseball Championship as one of the top freshmen nationally, hitting a team-best .379 with 14 doubles, two triples and 22 home runs for 62 RBI. With an OPS of 1.311, he’s slugging .803 with an on-base percentage of .508, having drawn more walks (51) than strikeouts (33). He also has eight stolen bases and has nine assists from center field – tying the program record for most single-season assists by an outfielder.
Burress currently leads all Division I freshmen in six statistical categories (home runs, home runs per game, slugging, total bases, walks, and walks per game), while ranking Top 3 nationally in 11 categories. Then at the conference level, he leads ACC freshmen in eight categories (runs and on-base percentage) while also ranking second in RBI, RBI/game and batting average.
Leading Georgia Tech in average, home runs and RBI, the Houston County native has a chance at becoming the 12th Yellow Jacket to win Georgia Tech’s triple crown. Burress would be the first to accomplish the feat since Matt Gonzalez in 2016. Burress is also just eight RBI away from breaking Matt Wieters’ freshman RBI record of 69, set in 2005.
Burress is the sixth Yellow Jacket to earn the league’s Freshmen/Rookie of the Year honor, joining the illustrious group of Wieters (2005), Micah Owings (2003), Mark Teixeira (1999), Nomar Garciaparra (1992) and Jason Varitek (1991).
Beginning with the announcement of the semifinalists, a ballot will be sent to a voting body consisting of baseball media members, select professional baseball personnel and USA Baseball staff, and the previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 150 voters. As part of this selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of semifinalists. On June 5, USA Baseball will announce finalists, and voting for the winner will begin that same day.
Fan voting will once again be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2024. Beginning with the semifinalist announcement and continuing through the finalist round voting deadline, fans from across the country will be able to vote for their favorite player on GoldenSpikesAward.com.
The winner of the 46th Golden Spikes Award will be named on Saturday, June 22 on ESPN.
2024 Golden Spikes Semifinalists
Jamie Arnold; LHP; Florida State; ACC
Travis Bazzana; INF; Oregon State; Pac-12
Brooks Bryan; C; Troy; Sun Belt
Blake Burke; 1B; Tennessee; SEC
Chase Burns; RHP; Wake Forest; ACC
Drew Burress; OF; Georgia Tech; ACC
Jac Caglianone; LHP/1B; Florida; SEC
Charlie Condon; 1B/OF; Georgia; SEC
Lawson Harrill; OF; Campbell; CAA
Luke Holman; RHP; LSU; SEC
Vance Honeycutt; OF; UNC; ACC
Walker Janek; C; Sam Houston; C-USA
Ryan Johnson; RHP; Dallas Baptist; C-USA
Dakota Jordan; OF; Mississippi State; SEC
Josh Kuroda-Grauer; INF; Rutgers; Big Ten
Nick Kurtz; 1B; Wake Forest; ACC
Jace LaViolette; OF; Texas A&M; SEC
Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman; RHP; ECU; AAC
Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP; Texas A&M; SEC
Christian Moore; INF; Tennessee; SEC
Hagen Smith; LHP; Arkansas; SEC
James Tibbs III; OF/1B; Florida State; ACC
Payton Tolle; LHP/INF; TCU; Big 12
Blake Wright; INF; Clemson; ACC
Trey Yesavage; RHP; ECU; AAC