Aloy, Gaeckle Land on Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List

CARY, N.C. – Arkansas infielder Wehiwa Aloy and pitcher Gabe Gaeckle have been named to the preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, presented annually to the best amateur baseball player in the nation.

The preseason list includes 55 players across high school and college baseball, and Arkansas is one of 11 schools with multiple players on this year’s list. The Golden Spikes Advisory Board will maintain the award’s watch list on a rolling basis, allowing student-athletes to play themselves into consideration for the award based on in-season performance.

Aloy, also named to last year’s preseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, started all 60 games at shortstop for the Razorbacks in 2024, his first season at Arkansas after transferring from Sacramento State. The Wailuku, Hawai’i, native slashed .270/.355/.485 with a team-high 14 home runs and 56 RBI, finishing his sophomore campaign as the team leader in runs scored (45), multi-RBI games (11), stolen bases (7) and consecutive games reached base safely (31).

Aloy is now the fourth two-time preseason watch list candidate for the Golden Spikes Award in program history, joining outfielder Heston Kjerstad (2019-20), infielder Casey Martin (2019-20) and infielder Robert Moore (2021-22).

Gaeckle, meanwhile, enters 2025 with numerous accolades after being named Baseball America’s preseason SEC Pitcher of the Year, clinching consensus preseason All-America status from Baseball America, D1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game and earning preseason first-team All-SEC recognition from the league’s 16 head coaches. The Aptos, Calif., native was a unanimous first-team Freshman All-American in 2024 following a historic rookie campaign in which he made 22 relief appearances on the mound and posted a 3-3 record with a 2.32 ERA, 57 strikeouts and a team-leading seven saves in 42.2 innings, becoming the fifth Arkansas freshman pitcher since 2003 to record five or more saves in a season.

Gaeckle is the 16th Razorback player since 2008 to earn a spot on the Golden Spikes Award’s preseason watch list. Two Razorbacks – outfielder Andrew Benintendi (2015) and pitcher Kevin Kopps (2021) – have previously won the award as the best amateur baseball player in the country, making Arkansas (2) one of six schools, along with Florida State (4), Arizona State (3), Cal State Fullerton (3), LSU (2) and San Diego State (2), with multiple Golden Spikes Award winners.

The Razorbacks, ranked in the preseason top five by Baseball America (No. 4), D1Baseball (No. 5), the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (No. 5) and the USA Today Coaches Poll (No. 5), open the season with a four-game series against Washington State on Feb. 14-17 at Baum-Walker Stadium. Arkansas, the nation’s winningest program since 2017 with 333 wins, is one of only two schools in the country to win 40 or more games in each of the last seven full seasons.

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