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Three Longhorns make the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list

by: Justin Nash04/02/26

Texas is one of three schools to have three or more players land on the midseason watchlist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the top amateur baseball player in the United States. The others with at least three are UCLA (4) and Florida State (3). The Longhorns have enjoyed a fantastic season with a 24-4 record at the halfway mark. That doesn’t happen without excellent play from a few players.

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There is a surprise on the watchlist in Texas commit Grady Emerson. So technically Texas could claim four players, but he will not make it to campus unless a donor wants to go drop a ridiculous NIL bag on the No. 2 overall MLB prospect. Emerson winning the award would represent the first high school athlete to take home the Golden Spikes, and just the third non-NCAA athlete to take it home.

But let’s not spend our time on the player we likely won’t see in burnt orange and white.

Ruger Riojas headlines the trio of Texas Longhorns on the list. He has enjoyed a fantastic season thus far, ranking 24th in the nation with a 1.59 ERA. He sits tied for 5th with 64 strikeouts, and holds a 14.52 K/9 rate. If that holds to the end of the season, he would blow all of the previous school record holders out of the water with the all-time Longhorns best sitting at 11.94 from Burt Hooton.

Aiden Robbins would probably fall in line with the second most likely player to win the award in 2026 for the Longhorns. Leading the Texas starters runs batted in (31), batting average (.372), slugging percentage (.708) and OPS (1.155), he is also tied for the most home runs on the team sitting at 10 through the halfway point.

Lastly for the Longhorns is Dylan Volantis, the pitcher most assumed would be the premier starter for Texas. He has been excellent, though efficiency in his last two outings hasn’t been up to his standard. Nevertheless, the Longhorns’ sophomore has been dominant on the mound, tied for 37th in strikeouts and just two outs behind Riojas at 39.0 innings pitched. If he were to also hold his 11.77 strikeout-to-walk ratio, he would currently slot in at 3rd best in school history and 4th best if Riojas held his number.

If Texas wants to achieve their goals of winning a national championship, they will need all three of these players to continue playing at an elite level as well as continuing to get great production from some of the other players that weren’t listed on the midseason watchlist.

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