No. 9 Texas Baseball's Ivan Melendez has been named a finalist for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, the organization announced.
This year will celebrate the 44th Golden Spikes Award winner, honoring the top amateur baseball player in the nation who best exhibits exceptional on-field ability and exemplary sportsmanship.
The other two finalists for the award Oregon State's Cooper Hjerpe and Georgia Tech's Kevin Parada. The winner will be announced on June 24 on ESPN during the "College World Series Special" at 7 p.m. CT.
Melendez leads all of Division I baseball with 30 home runs, 90 RBI, an .895 slugging percentage and 204 total bases. He also ranks in the top 10 in on-base percentage and batting average. He is the first player to surpass the 30-homer mark since Golden Spikes Award winner Kris Bryant in 2013.
The El Paso, Texas, native was named the Big 12 Player of the Year after leading the league in batting average, home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Melendez is the 10th Longhorn to be named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the first since Kody Clemens got the nod in 2018.