Florida's Jac Caglianone snubbed for college baseball's biggest honor
![Gators utility Jac Caglianone (14) with his 20th homer of the season in the bottom of the second inning against South Carolina. The Gators ended their six game losing streak with an 11-9 win over the Gamecocks in Game 3 of the weekend series at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, Sunday, April 14, 2024. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2024](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3518,h_1978,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2F213%2F01hzpkea5qz8qftsfwp2.jpg "Gators utility Jac Caglianone (14) with his 20th homer of the season in the bottom of the second inning against South Carolina. The Gators ended their six game losing streak with an 11-9 win over the Gamecocks in Game 3 of the weekend series at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, Florida, Sunday, April 14, 2024. [Cyndi Chambers/ Gainesville Sun] 2024")
Last season Jac Caglianone was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the best player in college baseball. He lost out on the award to LSU's Dylan Crews, but most assumed Caglianone would be a lock to be in contention for the award again in 2024.
In 2024, his batting numbers surged even more, and his pitching stayed solid. But somehow, Caglianone wasn't named a finalist for the Golden Spikes.
Florida Baseball: Count The Votes
The three finalists for the 2024 Golden Spikes Award are Travis Bazzana (Oregon State), Charlie Condon (Georgia), and Hagen Smith (Arkansas). With a 2.04 ERA, Smith is the obligatory best pitcher for the list. Condon had 36 HRs and an OPS of 1.602, so there are not many complaints there either.
Then there is Bazzana, who had a respectable 26 HRs and an OPS of 1.512. But when one factors in that Caglianone had 31 HRs while getting the Barry Bonds treatment (24 intentional walks) and the fact that Caglianone was 5-2 as a pitcher against the number one-ranked schedule in the country, it feels like the only reason Bazzana made the list over Caglianone is that voters didn't want another all-SEC finalist list.
Caglianone did make it as a finalist for the John Olerud Award, given to the best two-way player in the country. But not making it for Golden Spikes feels like voters have no conceptual way to come up with a combined value for a two-way player.
The best two-way player in the country is a John Olerud Award finalist! ⭐
— Florida Gators Baseball (@GatorsBB) June 5, 2024
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Florida will be taking on Clemson starting Saturday in Super Regionals in a best two-out-of-three series with a berth to the College World Series on the line. Florida made it to Omaha last season and was one game away from winning it all, while Clemson is in Super Regionals for the first time since 2010.
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