For the first time, a high school athlete has made the list of semifinalists for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.
Bobby Witt Jr., an Oklahoma commit from Colleyville-Heritage High School (Texas), was named to the list with 24 other elite amateur athletes around the nation.
USA Baseball announced the list Wednesday. Witt and Jackson Rutledge of San Jacinto College were the only none-Div. 1 baseball players to be nominated.
If one of them win, it will be just the second time a non-Div. 1 athlete won the award and the first since Bryce Harper did so in 2010. Harper played at the College of Southern Nevada.
Witt is slashing .519/.598/1.160 with 14 home runs, seven triples, 12 doubles and 44 RBI through 32 games this season, according to MaxPreps.
He has as many games with four or more hits as he does with hitless games (five) and was one a 17-game hitting streak at one point this season.
Witt was named the National Senior Baseball Athlete of the Year by the National High School Coaches Association on Tuesday.
Primarily a shortstop, Witt also has appearances on the mound. In 6.2 innings he has struck out 15 batters and only walked one. He has allowed four runs, though none have been earned.
The No. 1-rated player in the 2019 class on Perfect Game, Witt has led Colleyville-Heritage to the No. 3 spot in the Super 25.
The Panthers are currently in the regional quarterfinals of the playoffs.
In the midseason Golden Spike Award list, Witt was joined by Lake Travis High School (Austin, Texas) star Brett Baty. With it cut down to 25 players, Baty was eliminated from the running.
The finalists will be announced May 29 and the winner will be named June 14.