The 2025 college baseball season is in the books, and Wehiwa Aloy took home the Golden Spikes Award. He was the third Arkansas player to win college baseball’s coveted trophy, which is given to the best player in college baseball.
Here are five early candidates that can win the Golden Spikes Award in 2026.
1. Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – Drew Burress is putting together a great college career for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In his first two seasons, he has a .357 batting average, a .490 on-base percentage, 44 home runs, 129 RBI, and 111 walks.
Burress was named an All-American by D1 Baseball twice in 2024 and 2025. He is the only position player to be an All-American in each of the last two seasons.
He was the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2024 and has already been on Golden Spikes watchlists throughout his career.
He heads into next season as one of the best hitters in college baseball.
2. Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA Bruins – Roch Cholowsky missed out on being a 2025 Golden Spikes finalist, despite having a very strong case to be one.
This past season, the star UCLA shortstop had a .353 batting average and a .480 on-base percentage. Almost half of Cholowsky’s hits were doubles and home runs this season. He had 19 doubles and 23 home runs that helped lead to 74 RBIs.
The UCLA star and potential first pick in the 2026 MLB draft did not leave the 2025 season empty-handed. He won the Big Ten Player of the Year award and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award as well. Cholowsky was also named a first-team All-American.
He was also named Player of the Year by several media outlets like D1 Baseball, Baseball America, and Perfect Game.
3. Daniel Cuvet, INF, Miami Hurricanes – Daniel Cuvet is a big-time power hitter for the Miami Hurricanes. In his first two seasons, he has a .361 batting average, a .439 on-base percentage, 42 home runs, and 159 RBI.
Cuvet was named second-team All-ACC and was a freshman All-American in 2024. During that same season, he set the Miami single-season home run record by a freshman with 24. The record was set in 1998 by legendary Hurricanes player Pat Burrell.
In 2025, he was named an All-American again and this time was first-team All-ACC.
Cuvet is on a course for a spectacular 2026 season where he can play himself into being a high MLB draft pick.
4. Liam Peterson, RHP, Florida Gators – Liam Peterson built on an SEC All-Freshman team season in 2024 by being a huge strikeout hunter in 2025.
In 69 1/3 innings of work, he had 96 strikeouts, which brought his career total to 173.
Peterson showed he was a winner in 2025 as well. He had an 8-4 record on the mound for the Gators in 15 starts and 16 total appearances.
With an improvement in ERA from 2024 and nearly 100 strikeouts in 2025, Peterson is on pace to become one of the best aces in college baseball for Florida next season.
Thus, he puts himself in a good position to be on the Golden Spikes award watchlist.
5. Aidan Knaak, RHP, Clemson Tigers – When Aidan Knaak started for Clemson in 2025, it was almost certainly a win for head coach Erik Bakich’s team.
The Tigers’ ace had a 9-1 record in 16 starts this season. In 90 1/3 total innings, he had 110 strikeouts. He was tied for the second-most strikeouts in the ACC alongside Florida State’s Jamie Arnold.
Knaak did not walk a lot of players as well. He only walked 29 batters, which was the same number of players he walked in 2024. In 2025, however, he pitched seven more innings.
He was also named first-team All-ACC for the second straight season. Knaak is the only Clemson pitcher to be named All-ACC in each of his first two seasons.
The 2026 college baseball season looks to be a big one for the Clemson ace who continues to gain a ton of draft stock.
Photo: Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress tops World Baseball Network’s early list of potential 2026 Golden Spikes Award winners. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)
