Texas Tech baseball’s Davis Martin has been named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List, the organization announced on Tuesday.
The midseason watch list features 40 of the nation’s top amateur players from the college ranks. The Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board will continue to maintain a rolling list of athletes, allowing players to play themselves into consideration for the award before announcing the semifinalists on May 21.
Last season, then-sophomore lefty Steven Gingery picked up the same honor and was named a semifinalist for the award in June.
Martin, a junior from San Angelo, Texas, is off to a 5-2 start to the 2018 season over eight appearances on the mound. The right-hander has put together a 2.63 ERA over 41.0 innings, racking up a team-high 49 strikeouts while allowing only 12 earned runs & 16 walks. Opponents have been held to a .182 batting average when he’s on the mound this year.
In conference play, Martin has allowed two or fewer runs in all three Big 12 starts this season. In 18.0 innings, he’s rung up 24 batters, walked five and given up five runs, holding opposing hitters to a .161 clip at the plate.
Martin has struck out five or more batters in each of the last five starts, posting a career-high 10 over 7.0 frames at Baylor on March 16. He followed it with nine strikeouts against the Mountaineers in his next Big 12 appearance in a 6.0-inning outing.
The list of semifinalists will be sent to a voting body consisting of past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that follow amateur baseball closely, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and the 40 previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters.
The 2018 Golden Spikes Award winner will be named on Thursday, June 28, 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.
Martin and the Red Raiders return to action Tuesday, April 10, taking on No. 25 Dallas Baptist at Horner Ballpark at 6:30 pm.
COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS
