DURHAM, N.C. – USA Baseball today announced its 55-player preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list, beginning the process of identifying the top amateur baseball player in the country for the 2022 season. Colorado Mesa's Haydn McGeary appeared on the watch list for the prestigious award given to the top amateur baseball player in the country.
 
The Glendale, Ariz. native was the consensus Division II National Player of the Year a season ago and was named a preseason first-team all-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). He led NCAA Division II in hits, doubles, runs batted in, slugging percentage and total bases.
 
The junior also had a nice start to the season during the No. 2 Mavericks season opening sweep of Azusa Pacific. He finished the weekend batting .467 (7-for-15) with two home runs and seven runs driven in.
 
McGeary is just one of two collegiate players that hale from non-Division I schools along with Cam Collier of Chipola College. The two join four high school players to form the six-man contingent of non-Division I players that grace the list.
 
Louisiana State leads the Preseason Watch List with three players followed by Arizona State, Arkansas, California, Florida, Ole Miss, Texas and Vanderbilt that all had two players.
 
Haydn becomes the first-ever USA Baseball Golden Spikes watch list recipient for Colorado Mesa and the first-ever by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference baseball player according to the list provided by USA Baseball.